Alexander Zverev battled the heat and a tough challenge from Alexander Shevchenko on Wednesday to reach his sixth consecutive clay-court quarter-final at the Rio Open presented by Claro.
The top seed, who is making his debut at the ATP 500, won a 72-minute opening set and needed a late charge to seal a 7-6(1), 7-6(6) win against the Kazakh. Zverev trailed 2/5 in the second-set tie-break and fought off two consecutive set points from 4/6, avoiding a decider after a gruelling two-hour, 28-minute battle.
“Generally, I thought it was a pretty good match. It’s not easy conditions here. It’s hot, humid. You go to your limits sometimes physically,” Zverev said in his on-court interview. “I thought he played a very good match, so I’m happy with the win and definitely happy with the improvement from yesterday.”
Signed. Sealed. Delivered. ✅@AlexZverev gets past a tough Shevchenko test 7-6(1) 7-6(6).@RioOpenOficial | #RioOpen pic.twitter.com/IR8wMGRQjl
— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 20, 2025
It was a stern test for Zverev from the first ball as he needed 10 minutes to break Shevchenko in a six-deuce opening game. Shevchenko eventually broke back and served for the set at 5-3, mirroring Zverev’s first-round match against Buyunchaokete, who held the same opportunity before the German fought back to win in a tie-break. Zverev raised his level in Wednesday’s tie-break, claiming 15 of 16 points spanning from late in the first set to an early break in the second.
Zverev, who led 4-1 in the second set, struggled to find consistent baseline rhythm, fluctuating between hot and cold runs. Sporting blue athletic tape on his upper right arm for the second consecutive match, the 23-time tour-level titlist leaned on his forehand in times of trouble, hitting with great depth to rush the World No. 103 in the PIF ATP Rankings.
“I was physically struggling I think at 4-1. I was really struggling to breathe," Zverev said. "The air is very heavy here. Very, very humid. I caught myself then afterwards and obviously happy I didn’t have to play a third set.”
The 27-year-old is into his first ATP 500 clay quarter-final outside of his hometown tournament Hamburg. Up next for Zverev is Argentine Francisco Comesana, who saved a match point to beat sixth seed Nicolas Jarry 7-6(4), 6-7(1), 7-6(6). Despite the Chilean winning 10 more points than Comesana, the 24-year-old was the more consistent player in key moments, surviving the three tie-break clash after three hours and 14 minutes.
Jarry will rue the backhand return he missed on his lone match point, which came at 6/5 in the third-set tie-break. The 29-year-old’s return barely went into the net, leaving Comesana with his hands over his head, stunned that the cleanly struck return had not made it over. Comesana cracked a smile in relief, tallying three consecutive points to reach his first tour-level quarter-final.
“I thought I lost. I’m still thinking I lost, but I won. I don’t know what to say,” said Comesana. “I knew had to serve very well because he has everything, good serve, forehand, backhand. I knew I had to defend very well and I did it.”
In a rematch of last year’s title match, defending champion and Argentine Sebastian Baez overcame countryman Mariano Navone 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. Baez trailed 0-2 in the deciding set before winning six of the next seven games to improve to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Navone. Baez will next meet Chun-Hsin Tseng, who escaped home hope Thiago Monteiro 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-6(4) in a three-hour, 20-minute marathon to finish the long day on Quadra Guga Kuerten.
Tseng is into his second tour-level quarter-final and first above ATP 250 level. The 23-year-old is the second player representing Chinese Taipei to reach an ATP 500 quarter-final, alongside Yen-Hsun Lu. Tseng beat Baez in the 2018 Roland Garros boys' singles final to win the junior title.
