Alexander Zverev will face Lukas Klein in the second round of the 2024
Australian Open with a superb chance of getting through to the third round in Melbourne after taking down Dominik Koepfer in a grueling four set clash on Tuesday afternoon.
It was a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-3 win for Zverev who was ear marked as one of the favourites for the title before this week began. But has also been embroiled in controversy with his trial date set for domestic abuse allegations against his ex-girlfriend and mother of his child, Brenda Patea. Many ATP and WTA players in the last 24 hours have been quizzed about this with mainly no comment being uttered.
Zverev got off to a poor start and conceded an early break and dropped the first set after just 37 minutes. Koepfer dictated the tie and put Zverev in trouble with superb groundstrokes as the latter continued to get more and more frustrated.
But also Koepfer's resolve started to wane as he had a period of poor play allowing Zverev in the second set to break at 4-2 and he levelled the tie after nearly an hour and a half. Zverev though did not have any security when it came to sealing the win from there as he had to fend off two set points before he sealed a tie-break and from there on, Zverev went on to win the final set 6-3.
Allegations may be the main issue right now with Zverev but at least on the court, he is showing grit, resolve and determination and continues on at the 2024 Australian Open.