Zverev maintains hot form; Berrettini, Monfils, Opelka win

Olympic champion Alexander Zverev is not messing about at this year’s US Open.

Having cruised past Sam Querrey in round one, the German was in even better form on Thursday, the No 4 seed’s 6-1, 6-0, 6-3 demolition of Albert Ramos Vinolas of Spain requiring just 74 minutes of effort.

Zverev missed just three returns in the entire match and his serve was equally effective, hitting 11 aces and dropping just three points on his first serve in the match as he set up a clash with either No 31 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan or American Jack Sock.

“It’s great that I’m through in three sets, that I played under an hour and a half,” he said. “I’ll need that energy in my matches.

“I think it was always a problem of mine in the beginning of my career that I always spent a lot of hours, a lot of time in the beginning of Grand Slam tournaments.”

Italy’s Berrettini survives Moutet challenge

Corentin Moutet brought his box of tricks with him into his second-round battle with Matteo Berrettini and he had the Wimbledon runner-up rattled when he won the second set to level the match.

The Frenchman’s variety is a match for anyone on the Tour when he is in the mood but Berrettini’s hammer of a serve came to the rescue on more than one occasion. In the end, he clinched a 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win, with 17 aces doing the damage.

The No 22 seed, Reilly Opelka, also advanced, beating Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 7-6 (7), 7-5, 6-4. The highest-ranked American left in the draw, he will play Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia in round three.

“I actually didn’t think I played great, and that’s what I loved about it,” Opelka said. “I won the match not playing great. “I picked up my level, made some nice adjustments on my return. But it started off ugly. I was clutching in the breaker. Stayed tough, I put pressure on him, and that’s what I think good players start to do is they win when they are not playing well.”

Gael Monfils (17) beat Steve Johnson 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 while 21st seed Aslan Karatsev saved two match points as he came back from two sets down to beat Australian Jordan Thompson 3-6, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (9), 6-1.

FULL SUMMARY OF THURSDAY’S ACTION AT THE US OPEN

• Seeds winning at the US Open (2nd round): Novak Djokovic (1), Alexander Zverev (4), Matteo Berrettini (6), Denis Shapovalov (7), Jannik Sinner (13), Gael Monfils (17), Aslan Karatsev (21), Reilly Opelka (22)
• Seeds to lose on day four at the US Open (2nd round): Hubert Hurkacz (10), Alexander Bublik (31)
• To follow our full coverage of the 2021 US Open, please visit this page.
• To follow live results, to see the men’s draw and women’s draw, we recommend you follow the official US Open website.
• Today’s schedule at the US Open is here.
• All the practical information – how to watch the tournament, how to buy tickets and everything else you could possibly need to know – is hopefully in this page.

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