After a serious injury cut short Zverev’s season last year, Alexander returned to action at the start of this season and started from scratch. The first months were quite difficult: the semi-final in Dubai was his best result. The German then gradually began to find his feet and reached the semi-finals of Roland-Garros.
Zverev’s run at Wimbledon ended in the third round, but he followed that up with his first title of the season at the Hamburg Open. After a semifinal performance in Cincinnati, he reached the quarterfinals of the US Open. A successful performance in New York brought him back into the top ten of the rankings.
Zverev won his second title of the season at the Chengdu Open. The following week, he reached the semi-finals of the China Open, where Daniil Medvedev ended his unbeaten streak. After a successful performance in Beijing, he received a ticket directly to the second round of the Shanghai tournament.
Meanwhile, Safiullin met three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray in the first round. The Russian got a break at the very start of the match and finished the first set in the same way.
Safiullin also started the second set with a break and led 2-0. Murray fought back to make it 2-1, but after that he couldn’t resist anymore. The Russian won four of the next five matches and took the match 6-3, 6-2.
Zverev in the confrontation with Safioullin leads with the score 2:0. He won their last meeting in the final of the 2023 Chengdu Open in three sets.
Forecast for the match Alexander Zverev – Roman Safiullin
Safiullin had a pretty good opening match in Shanghai, knocking out Murray in the first round with 27 winners and 11 unforced errors. And after just a few weeks of facing Zverev in the final of the Chengdu Open, the stage is set for an exciting rematch between the two.
Their last match was quite even and Zverev’s serve helped him a lot that day. Alexander had 10 aces and scored 72% of the points on the first serve. A performance like this could give him the lead again.
Despite a good match against Zverev, Safiullin’s overall season was very average. The German, on the other hand, started to play better as the year went on. Given his form, the 26-year-old German should once again emerge victorious from this clash.
Forecast: Alexander Zverev will win in straight sets.
Vyacheslav Gorbachev/Athletistic
Source: Sport
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
