Australian Open: Zverev survives four-and-a-half hour marathon against qualifier

German Alexander Zverev, the No 6 seed, reached the third round of the Australian Open by winning against Slovak qualifier Lukas Klein 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (7) at Melbourne Park on Thursday.

Klein, ranked No 163 in the world, played the match of his life against Zverev, falling just points short of upsetting the former world No 2.

“To be honest he was playing incredible,” a somewhat bewildered Zverev declared after the match. “He probably deserved to win the match more than me today. “

Zverev spectates as Klein dictates

It was a contest played almost entirely on the Slovak’s racquet, with Klein pummeling 80 winners and 83 unforced errors, virtually double Zverev’s numbers.

“A lot of the time I was just a spectator,” Zverev confessed. “The match was in his hands, he was hitting winners or missing.”

The German’s serve kept him in the match, with Zverev landing 21 aces across the course of the match and making 75 per cent of his first serves. When he made a first serve, the No 7 seed claimed the point 78 per cent of the time, with a knack for doing so on the biggest points.

“That’s how tennis goes sometimes,” said Zverev. “I’m happy to be through. Now I’m in the third round, it’s about recovering, getting back on court again.”

Zverev, ranked No 6, will face American Alex Michelsen next, who upset No 32 seed Jiri Lehecka earlier in the day.

Ahead of his victory, the German beat Dominik Koepfer (4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-3), while Klein defeated SoonWoo Kwon (7-6, 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3) in the previous round.

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other second-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 58.910.000, most recent results first):

• Emil Ruusuvuori vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Holger Rune vs. Arthur Cazaux
• Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Hugo Grenier
• Grigor Dimitrov vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis
• Jakub Mensik vs. Hubert Hurkacz
• Ugo Humbert vs. Zhizhen Zhang
• Arthur Fils vs. Tallon Griekspoor
• Sumit Nagal vs. Juncheng Shang
• Nuno Borges vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Carlos Alcaraz: thursday
• Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Jan-Lennard Struff: thursday
• Tommy Paul vs. Jack Draper: thursday
• Casper Ruud (11) beat Max Purcell: 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7)
• Cameron Norrie vs. Giulio Zeppieri: thursday
• Alex Michelsen beat Jiri Lehecka (32): 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
• Novak Djokovic (1) beat Alexei Popyrin: 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3
• Andrey Rublev (5) beat Christopher Eubanks: 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Sebastian Korda (29) beat Quentin Halys: 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (7) beat Jordan Thompson: 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-2, 7-6 (4)
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry (30) beat Gael Monfils: 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Tomas Machac beat Frances Tiafoe (17): 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (5)
• Adrian Mannarino (20) beat Jaume Munar: 6-3, 6-3, 1-6, 2-6, 6-3
• Ben Shelton (16) beat Christopher O’Connell: 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (5)
• Fabian Marozsan beat Francisco Cerundolo (22): 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-2
• Taylor Fritz (12) beat Hugo Gaston (LL): 6-0, 6-3, 6-1
• Karen Khachanov (15) beat Aleksandar Kovacevic (Q): 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
• Luca Van Assche beat Lorenzo Musetti (25): 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-0
• Flavio Cobolli (Q) beat Pavel Kotov: 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2
• Sebastian Baez (26) beat Daniel Elahi Galan: 7-5, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
• Alex De Minaur (10) beat Matteo Arnaldi: 6-3, 6-0, 6-3
• Jannik Sinner (4) beat Jesper De Jong (Q): 6-2, 6-2, 6-2