Alexander Zverev is back to winning ways in Shanghai.
The German registered a comfortable 6-4, 6-2 victory over Italian qualifier Mattia Bellucci at the Rolex Shanghai Masters in the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting to advance to the third round on Saturday.
He was the last of the Top 4 seeds in action on Stadium Court, wrapping up the star-studded lineup after Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Novak Djokovic also won their opening matches.
After withdrawing from the China Open due to pneumonia last week, the 27-year-old won his first match in Shanghai since 2019 in one hour and 36 minutes. In 2023, he lost to Roman Safiullin in straight sets in the opening match.
"I didn’t practise, I didn’t do anything really. So, of course, I am happy with the level," Zverev said, admitting there was uncertainty leading up to the tournament due to illness.
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Competing in his first match since the Laver Cup in September, Zverev showed some signs of rust early on and made 12 unforced errors in the first set. Bellucci, playing his maiden Masters 1000 event, gave the German a good fight by saving six of seven break points. Eventually, Zverev’s experience prevailed as he broke the spirited lefty in the seventh game to take the lead.
As the match progressed, the 22-time tour-level titlist found his groove and made only two unforced errors in the second set. Zverev broke the Italian twice and surrendered only two points on serve in the set. Overall, he made 71 per cent of his first serves and won 83 per cent of his first-serve points. With the win, he improved to 24-0 against left-handers since 2023 Roland Garros.
"He is actually a very good player. He surprised me a lot for his size. His serve is incredible. He gets quite a lot of speed on that, and from [the] baseline he is very, very aggressive," the German said about Bellucci.
“All in all, he is a very talented player, and I think he is going to get up the rankings quite quickly now, and we’ll be seeing him on these kinds of courts more regularly.”
The victory marked Zverev’s 58th win (58-18) this season according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. He sits behind World No. 1 Sinner, who beat Taro Daniel earlier in the day, leading the tour with 60 wins. Chasing his first title in Shanghai after making the final in 2019, Zverev won the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome and reached the final at Roland Garros and Hamburg earlier this year.
The No. 3 player in the PIF ATP Rankings will face either Jordan Thompson or Tallon Griekspoor in the third round.
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