MELBOURNE (Reuters) - German sixth seed Alexander Zverev used his powerful serve to good effect to overcome 23rd seed Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 6-4 7-6(5) 6-3 on Sunday and reach the Australian Open quarter-finals.
Zverev needed five sets to beat Lajovic in each of their two previous meetings at the French Open, but the 23-year-old was in a more ruthless mood on Margaret Court Arena and sealed victory with his 15th ace.
The German got 72% of his first serves in and racked up 44 winners to dominate the 30-year-old Lajovic throughout the match to register his 50th win in majors.
Lajovic started strongly by breaking the German early to take a 2-0 lead in the opening set but Zverev broke back in the next game and did not look back.
“Today was a pretty good match, much colder than the other days,” Zverev said in his on-court interview.
“I’m very happy with a win and it could have gone either way early on. It wasn’t easy.”
Next up for Zverev will be either world number one Novak Djokovic, an eight-time winner at Melbourne Park, or Canadian 14th seed Milos Raonic.
“I’m in the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam, so I’ve gotta to be doing something well,” Zverev said.
“I’m looking forward to what’s ahead, the toughest matches I think are still ahead of me, with Novak and Raonic looking for a spot in the quarter-finals against me.
“I’m definitely looking forward to what’s ahead.”
Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by Ed Osmond
February 14, 2021 at 05:49PM
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tennis-ausopen-zverev/zverev-reaches-last-eight-with-easy-win-over-lajovic-idUSKBN2AE0B2
Zverev reaches last eight with easy win over Lajovic - Reuters
https://news.google.com/search?q=easy&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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