John Millman has become the latest victim of Alexander Zverev’s superb run of form, battling as courageously as ever before going down 6-0 3-6 6-3 to the home favourite at the ATP’s Cologne Championships.
The top seed Zverev, fresh from his indoor tournament victory at the same venue last weekend, had to repel a fightback from the 31-year-old Brisbane stalwart before booking his place in the quarter-finals.
It was a victory that even earned the victorious ‘Sascha’ a special surprise at the end of the match.
The official ‘tournament dog’ Barnie strolled onto the court to congratulate him during the German’s on-court interview afterwards.
“Now my dogs will be jealous!” Zverev said with a laugh.
The match, though, had been no laughing matter for U.S. Open finalist Zverev, who found himself, not for the first time, struggling with serving problems.
He served up 10 doubles but still had enough in his armoury to win his fifth successive match in Cologne.It was also his 11th win in his last 12 matches on hard courts.
Zverev had some praise for his Australian opponent, though.
“In the first set I thought I played flawlessly, but then I wasn’t focussed at the beginning of the second set and the match could turn around,” Zverev said.
“John is someone who has beaten top players before… you’ve got to play until the end and I thought I did a poor job serving today. But I got the win somehow.”
Millman, who had pushed the same opponent to five sets at the French Open last year, again battled for nearly two hours before Zverev finally prevailed.
Even when down 2-4 in the third set, Millman earned three break points only for the slightly nervy Zverev to hold firm.
Millman will be getting fed up of the sight of the Zverevs after Alexander’s older brother Mischa beat him 6-4 6-1 last week.
“I think my brother is much better than me, so that’s why he won more easily,” Zverev joked.