Against an Australian in the Rod Laver Arena, it doesn’t get any harder at the Australian Open. Alexander Zverev (24) mastered the task, defeating John Millman (32) in the second round of Melbourne 6: 4, 6: 4, 6: 0. Radu Albot (32) from Moldova is now waiting on Friday.
The beginning of the game was nervous from both sides. The favorite managed a break right away, but number 89 in the world took it back immediately before Zverev took over the service from his opponent again. That was enough to win the first set.
“I won, so I feel good. It was an amazing atmosphere. I expected to be booed. Sport needs this atmosphere, it doesn’t matter whether the spectators are for me or against me,” said Zverev.
Kangaroo and his master! These two and their friends set the mood in the arenaPhoto: JAMES GOURLEY/REUTERS
It was clear that the spectators in the Rod Laver Arena are not for Zverev. Nevertheless, they also applauded fair hits from the hamburger. He returned the favor for the friendliness in his own way. When changing sides after the 4: 3, Zverev got a ball and gave it to a spectator before he went to his bench.
In addition to Millman, the number 3 in the world also had to deal with a plastic kangaroo, whose owners, a group of fans in Australian t-shirts, cheered on their compatriot after almost every point, heating up the audience. You don’t want to imagine the atmosphere that would have prevailed if the arena had been allowed to sell out.
But the cheering helped Millman only to a limited extent. Zverev made an early break in the second set and then served the round to 6: 4. And in the third set, the 2020 US Open finalist got the Australian’s serve right at the start.
Millman’s resistance was thus broken. A second break followed, and the man from Down Under couldn’t make up for it. After 1:59 hours, Zverev finally converted his first match point to 6: 0.
Zverev: “I hope I can hit even harder in the next few games.” Because Rafael Nadal would wait in the quarter-finals…