Zverev Wins 50th Grand Slam Match, Beats Lajovic In Melbourne
Alexander Zverev was impressive on Sunday, as he recorded his 50th major championship match win for a place in the Australian Open quarter-finals for the second consecutive year.
The German struck 44 winners, including 15 aces, to beat No. 23 seed Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-3 in two hours and 21 minutes for a place in his fifth Grand Slam quarter-final.
“Today was a pretty good match, much colder than the other days,” said Zverev. “I’m very happy with a win and it could have gone either way early on. It wasn’t easy.”
Zverev will now prepare to face World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, the eight-time Australian Open champion, on Tuesday. Zverev trails Djokovic 2-5 in their ATP Head2Head series.
When asked about the match-up Zverev said: “You’ve got to play your best tennis, especially here. This is his favourite court, this is his favourite tournament. To be able to have a chance against him, you have to be playing extremely well. You have to be playing aggressive tennis, being the one that dominates. I’m looking forward to the challenge. I think it’s one of the toughest challenges in our sport.”
Lajovic started positively in his bid to beat Zverev for the first time in three ATP Head2Head meetings. But groundstroke errors started to mount for Lajovic and Zverev recovered, breaking serve in the third and seventh games. Lajovic saved one set point at 3-5, with a superb backhand winner off a Zverev return.
Following an exchange of service breaks late in the second set, Zverev dominated in the tie-break and kept his Serbian opponent deep behind the baseline. Zverev clinched the second set with a mid-court forehand winner, then capitalised on four Lajovic errors at 1-2 in the third set. Zverev completed victory by striking his 15th ace.
“I played some quality tennis today… and I felt really good on the court, [for the] first time in a while,” said Lajovic. “I’m positive [about] this tournament. I’m disappointed right now, but [I’m] looking towards [the] future. I think I’m in a good spot.”