Alexander Zverev had a nasty fall at the start of the match against Taylor Fritz at the 2024 Italian Open in Rome, but he was still able to win it in straight sets.
The American has been one of the better performers in recent weeks, playing solid tennis in Munich, Madrid, and now Rome. Much like last week in Madrid, Fritz wasn't able to beat a top player late in the tournament, with Zverev proving to be too strong this time around.
At the start of the match, already in the third game, the German suffered a nasty fall on the clay and seemingly injured his hand. He took a medical timeout to get it checked out as he was seemingly in a lot of pain, but he dusted himself up and continued the match.
He broke his opponent's serve in that game to take a 2-1 lead, which would prove enough in the first set. It was a continuation of a really solid play this week. He mostly focused on keeping his serve for the rest of the match and didn't face a single break point.
He didn't press on return either, so Fritz found some nice rhythm on his serve. That backfired on Zverev a little bit because he allowed Fritz to play himself into a really nice rhythm on his serve.
He didn't allow him much on the serve, though, so overall, it was not a huge issue. The second set was similar to the first. Fritz continued to cruise through his games but still couldn't create any kind of pressure on his opponent's serve.
Patience proved key for Zverev, who got that one bad game from Fritz to break for a 4-3 lead in the second set. He remained unchallenged on his serve because Fritz couldn't create a single break point in the entire match.
That's an incredible level from Zverev, who was just amazing the entire match. He served well, hit the ball well, and left the court with a deserved win 6-4, 6-3.
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