TENNIS – TOP seed and world number three Alexander Zverev battled past Czech qualifier Vit Kopriva in three sets to reach the second round at the Halle Open, while defending champion Alexander Bublik suffered a shock early exit yesterday.
Zverev, who claimed his first Grand Slam title at the French Open nine days ago, looked in control as he took the opening set comfortably on the Halle grass. But Kopriva, ranked 64th, hit back to level the match, winning a late break point and then claiming the second set to push the match to a decider.
Kopriva finished the second set with 14 winners, while Zverev had 11, before the German picked up his game and closed out a victory which set up an all-German second-round clash with Yannick Hanfmann who defeated rising Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca 6-2 6-2 in the first round.
Earlier, Italian qualifier Mattia Bellucci produced a clinical display to knock out Bublik 7-6(6) 6-1 in just 75 minutes. The world number 74 outplayed the seventh-seeded Kazakh, who won here in 2023 and 2025, on his preferred grass surface.
&uuid=(email))