Toronto
\n Zverev guts out 52-shot rally en route to Toronto opening win<\/p>\n
German in action for first time since Wimbledon<\/p>\n
July 30, 2025<\/p>\n
Peter Power\/National Bank Open Presented by Rogers<\/p>\n
Alexander Zverev is the top seed at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers.
\n By ATP Staff<\/p>\n
If a 52-shot rally is any indication how Alexander Zverev<\/a> is feeling in his first outing since a shocking first-round upset at Wimbledon<\/a>, the German appears recharged for the North American hard-court swing.<\/p>\n Zverev, the top seed at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers<\/a> in Toronto, began his campaign Tuesday by ousting Adam Walton<\/a> 7-6(6), 6-4, during which the 28-year-old survived a lung-busting exchange to crucially earn set point in the opener. After trailing 3\/5 in the tie-break, Zverev seized momentum following that lengthy rally at 5\/5 and found more rhythm from the baseline to advance.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a very important moment, very important point for me,\u201d Zverev said. \u201cLucky to get through in the first set and finishing it off in two.\u201d<\/p>\n Zverev\u2019s level fluctuated throughout the night, but he dropped just three points behind his hefty first serve to move within one of 500 career tour-level wins, according to the Infosys ATP Win\/Loss Index. Zverev was broken when he served for the match at 5-3, yet quickly regrouped to close out the one-hour, 42-minute match the following game.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes it\u2019s about winning a match, [despite] not always playing your best,” said Zverev. “I know it wasn\u2019t the prettiest match, for sure, but I haven\u2019t played a match in four weeks. I took some time off, which I needed also for myself. I\u2019m happy to be playing again. Tomorrow is another day and I hope I will be better tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n \nA seven-time ATP Masters 1000 champion, including a triumph in Canada in 2017, the No. 3 player in the PIF ATP Rankings will continue his quest to add to that haul against 32nd seed Matteo Arnaldi<\/a>, who defeated Australian Tristan Schoolkate<\/a> 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Zverev leads Arnaldi 1-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, with their lone meeting coming in Acapulco this year.<\/p>\n In other action, #NextGenATP Learner Tien<\/a> fought off home favourite Denis Shapovalov<\/a> 7-6(4), 7-5 in an all-lefty battle to add to his ever-growing resume. Shapovalov served for the second set at 5-4, yet Tien avoided a decider by claiming three consecutive games. The 19-year-old, third in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, is into the third round of an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time.<\/p>\n Eighth seed Casper Ruud<\/a>, competing in just his second tournament since Roland Garros<\/a>, raced past Roman Safiullin<\/a> 6-3, 6-3. The Norwegian next faces Nuno Borges<\/a>, who rallied past Argentine qualifier Facundo Bagnis<\/a> 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-2.<\/p>\n American Reilly Opelka<\/a>, a 2021 finalist in Toronto, outlasted 16th seed Tomas Machac<\/a> 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 6-3 after crushing 24 aces. 14th seed Francisco Cerundolo<\/a> escaped Jaume Munar<\/a> 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4 in a two-hour, 58-minute battle while Cerundolo’s countryman Tomas Martin Etcheverry<\/a> upset 24th seed Tallon Griekspoor<\/a> 6-4, 7-6(4).<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Toronto Zverev guts out 52-shot rally en route to Toronto opening win German in action for first time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[79,1068,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-303846","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114942086044950403","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}