The German Alexander Zverev (9th in the world) battled to finally overthrow the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics (52nd) 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, in the first round of the Masters 1000 at Paris-Bercy, Tuesday after 2 h 37 min . Zverev, 26, is among the well-placed players in search of one of the last three tickets still in play for the Masters, which will bring together the top 8 of the season from November 12 to 19 in Turin (Italy). He therefore continues his Parisian adventure, where he has not lost in the first round since 2017.
If the two players took turns responding to each other in the first set, it was Zverev who gave in first, leaving the Hungarian, from qualifying, to win the first set with a blank break (6-4). In the second set, Zverev, winner of two titles this year (Hamburg in July and Chengdu at the end of September), was more diligent and seized his opponent's face-off at 6-5 to come back level (7-5). Facing Fucsovics, whom he met for the first time, the finalist of the 2020 edition showed inconsistency in the third round, in particular by managing to take the throw from the Hungarian without confirming. But Zverev ended up winning after converting a final break.
In the second round, he will meet the winner of the duel between the Frenchman Ugo Humbert (26th) and the American Marcos Giron (59th), scheduled for the day.