Sonego challenged Zverev, but Zverev advanced to the Halle quarter-finals.
German tennis star Alexander Zverev, 28, secured a spot in the quarter-finals of the Citi Open with a hard-fought 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) victory over Italian upstart Lorenzo Sonego. Zverev takes on another Italian, Flavio Cobolli, in the next round for a shot at the semi-finals.
Back in 2016 and 2017, Zverev made it to the finals of the Halle tournament. Their match against Sonego marked their fifth encounter, with the German winning all four previous encounters, including a victory from last year's same stage of the same competition.
The contest was tight, with Sonego claiming the first set after breaking Zverev's serve at 4-3. Zverev, however, displayed tremendous determination, rallying from behind to win the second set. Managing to maintain the momentum, he dominated the tiebreak to seal the third set.
World No. 1 Jannik Sinner, fresh from the French Open final, faces Alexander Bublik in the second round later today. The winner of that match will take on Tomas Machac in the quarter-finals after the Czech defeated Fabian Marozsan earlier.
Argentina's Tomas Martin Etcheverry also advanced to the quarter-finals, fighting off two match points in the decider to beat fourth seed Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (8/6). He'll face Karen Khachanov in the following round.
Sneak peak into Zverev-Cobolli's history reveals that Zverev has maintained a perfect 2-0 record against the Italian, with both matches played on different surfaces—clay(French Open 2025) and grass (Terra Wortmann Open 2025). Alexander Zverev, currently ranked No. 3 in the world, has demonstrated his dominance against Cobolli, who is ranked No. 24, claiming both matches without dropping a set.
While Cobolli brought resilience, he couldn’t match the experience and higher ranking of Zverev. Pre-match analysis suggested that Zverev would likely win in straight sets again, as he continues to dominate his H2H record against Cobolli.
Alexander Zverev's victory over Lorenzo Sonego reminds us that he has a perfect record against his next opponent, Flavio Cobolli, in the tennis world. In fact, Zverev has won all three matches they've played, including two on different surfaces - clay and grass.
