World number three Alexander Zverev overcame a slow start to defeat Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) and progress to the quarter-finals of the Halle grass-court tournament on Thursday.
The 28-year-old German, a two-time finalist in Halle (2016 and 2017), secured his fifth consecutive win against the 46th-ranked Sonego, who had previously pushed him hard at the same stage last year.
Sonego seized his sole break point in the opening set at 4-3, leaving Zverev struggling to break back throughout. But Zverev showed resilience in the second set, breaking serve to lead 5-4 and level the match.
The decider went to a tense tiebreak, where Zverev asserted control to seal victory. Next, he faces another Italian, Flavio Cobolli, for a place in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, world number one Jannik Sinner, the recent French Open finalist, is set to face Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik in the second round later on Thursday. This encounter comes just two weeks after Sinner defeated Bublik convincingly in the Roland Garros quarter-finals.
The winner of that match will face Tomas Machac in the quarters, following the Czech’s 6-2, 6-3 win over Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan earlier in the day.
In another thrilling contest, Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry, ranked 63rd, reached the quarter-finals after a grueling three-hour match against fourth seed Andrey Rublev. Etcheverry won 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (8-6), saving two match points in the final set tiebreak. He will now face Russia’s Karen Khachanov.
