Alexander Zverev endured another major test at the U.S. Open, battling past France’s Quentin Halys 6-4 4-6 7-6(3) 6-7(3) 6-3 in a late-night thriller that stretched from Thursday night into the early hours of Friday at Arthur Ashe Stadium, sending the top seed into the third round.
The French Open champion had already been pushed to five sets by Lorenzo Sonego in his first-round match, and Halys made him work every bit as hard again as Zverev leaned on his resilience to keep alive his pursuit of a first Grand Slam title in New York.
“The performance was quite s–t to be honest, but I won, that’s the most important thing,” Zverev admitted during his on-court interview after finally closing out the match.
“Another four-and-a-half hours, 2:15 am, that’s what I go to the gym for,” he said, while also offering appreciation to the hardy fans who stayed until the finish. “The couple thousand people (who stayed) made up for the 15,000 that left.”
Zverev edged the first set with a single break, but world number 52 Halys responded aggressively in the second, drawing fresh energy from the Arthur Ashe crowd and making clear the German would have to fight for every step toward the next round.
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The 29-year-old Zverev’s frustrations threatened to boil over after he threw away an early break in the third set and looked to be in deep trouble when Halys opened up a 4-1 lead, but the German responded emphatically to draw level.
After forcing a tiebreak and claiming the third set to edge ahead in the contest, Zverev dropped the fourth, before settling his nerves in the decider and building a 4-2 advantage with an overhead smash at the net.
Having found the opening he needed, Zverev raised his level another notch to force an error on match point and earn a hard-fought win for a clash with 25th seed Alejandro Tabilo in the next round.