Tennis - Zverev starts with victory in Paris - Koefer surprised

PARIS (DPA) – Olympic champion Alexander Zverev outlined his top form at the Tennis Masters in Paris after winning the tournament in Vienna.

After a bye in the first round, he won his opening match 6:3, 7:6 (7:5) against Serb Dusan Lajovic after 1:04 hours. No player has won more titles on the main Tour of Tennis Professionals in 2021 than Zverev, and only Stefanos Tsitsipas has managed to win more games at Tour level this year (55:53). Greece’s number three had to give up his second round game against Australian Alexei Popyrin when the score was 2:4 in the first set. His participation in the ATP Finals to be held in Turin from November 14 does not appear to be in jeopardy.

World number four Zverev will now face Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov in the second round. He will be joined by Dominic Koefer in Round 16. The 27-year-old Davis Cup professional defeated world number 11 Felix Auger-Aliassim of Canada in 6:3,7:5. Koefer used his first match ball after 1:38 hours and now meets Polish world number one Hubert Herkász.

The world number 58 had in fact already failed to qualify in the event, which concluded with around three million euros, but then slipped into the main field as a so-called lucky loser.