Alexander Zverev survived another almighty scare at the U.S. Open as the top seed overcame Frenchman Quentin Halys 6-4 4-6 7-6(3) 6-7(3) 6-3 on Thursday night and into early Friday morning at Arthur Ashe Stadium to secure a place in the third round of the Grand Slam.
The French Open champion was taken the distance by Lorenzo Sonego in his opening contest and came under pressure from Halys throughout the next, forcing him to summon his resilience again and stay on track for a maiden title in New York.
“The performance was quite s–t to be honest, but I won, that’s the most important thing,” Zverev said in an on-court interview afterward.
“Another four-and-a-half hours, 2:15 am, that’s what I go to the gym for,” he added, before thanking die-hard fans who remained in the stadium for the end of the match. “The couple thousand people (who stayed) made up for the 15,000 that left.”
Zverev took the opening set on the back of a solitary break, but world number 52 Halys came out swinging in the next to level the contest, bringing the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd to life and ensuring there would be no easy route through.
The 29-year-old Zverev’s frustrations threatened to boil over after he threw away an early break in the third set and looked to be in deep trouble when Halys opened up a 4-1 lead, but the German responded emphatically to draw level.
After forcing a tiebreak and claiming the third set to edge ahead in the contest, Zverev dropped the fourth, before settling his nerves in the decider and building a 4-2 advantage with an overhead smash at the net.
Having found the opening he needed, Zverev raised his level another notch to force an error on match point and earn a hard-fought win for a clash with 25th seed Alejandro Tabilo in the next round.
