Top Seed Alexander Zverev Survives Five-Set Opening Battle at US Open

Top seed Alexander Zverev narrowly avoided an early exit at the US Open, defeating Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego in a grueling five-set match that concluded early Wednesday morning in New York. The German player secured a 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-5, 6-4 victory after four hours and 52 minutes of play on court.

The hard-fought outcome kept Zverev from becoming the first top-seeded male player to fall in the opening round of a Grand Slam tournament since 2003, when Lleyton Hewitt was defeated by Ivo Karlovic at Wimbledon. At the US Open specifically, a men’s top seed has not lost in his opening match since Stefan Edberg fell to Alexander Volkov in 1990.

Throughout the night, Zverev struggled to capitalize on breaking opportunities, converting just five of his 22 break point attempts against Sonego’s serve. In the third set, Zverev broke serve when Sonego was serving for the set at 5-4, forcing a tiebreaker. After reaching a 7-6 lead on consecutive serves hitting 133 mph and 141 mph, Zverev lost the next two points before committing a double fault to yield the set.

Sonego pushed the top seed further in the fourth set. Zverev earned a service break for a 3-2 advantage, but Sonego immediately broke back. Leading 5-4 in that set, the Italian moved within two points of securing the match. Zverev held serve to equalize, broke Sonego to go ahead 6-5, and served out the set to level the match at two sets apiece.

Before the start of the final set, medical staff checked Sonego’s hand or wrist. The Italian appeared physically unhindered during the remaining games, but Zverev earned a key service break to grab a 3-2 lead. The top seed remained ahead from that point to complete the comeback win.

The result maintained Zverev’s perfect head-to-head record against Sonego, bringing it to 7-0. Sonego had entered the contest with a 1-9 record against top-10 opponents in Grand Slam tournaments. Following the match, Zverev praised his opponent’s performance and remarked that the nearly five-hour duration was likely the longest first-round contest of his career. Having struggled in his previous two tournaments, Zverev called the rigorous fight “this exactly the match that I needed” to regain momentum. He will play Quentin Halys in the second round.

Background

Zverev is competing as the top seed at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his career. He inherited the top seed at the US Open after world No. 1 Jannik Sinner was forced to withdraw from the event due to a right knee injury.

Zverev captured his first career major title at the French Open before finishing as the runner-up to Sinner at Wimbledon. He previously reached the US Open final in 2020.