Alexander Zverev ‘not sure’ about ATP scheduling after 3am finish in Beijing
Alexander Zverev has extended his winning run to six matches, but the German was not overly pleased that his match began after midnight in Beijing.
Zverev came from a set down to beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, 6(4)-7 6-2 6-1, with the match being completed at 2:40am in the Chinese capital.
Quarter-final No.10 of 2023 ?@AlexZverev outlasts Davidovich Fokina 6-7(4) 6-2 6-1 and will face Jarry next!#ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/avFQRLyLTr
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) September 30, 2023
And the former No.2 has questioned the decision to keep them on this court, “Obviously, it’s difficult to play until 3am. I’m not sure it was the right call to keep us on this court.
“I think we should’ve changed courts. We should’ve gone on. There’s so many great courts on the stadium. So many opportunities where we could’ve played. I’m not sure we should’ve waited until past midnight to start the match, to be honest.”
The National Tennis Center in Beijing holds a total of 12 match courts, and with both the ATP 500 tournament and WTA 1000 event taking place at the moment there is a lot of tennis to get through.
However, there was no play going on any of the other courts except the Diamond Court, which is the main court at the tournament, where Zverev and Davidovich Fokina were scheduled to play.
Zverev has not been able to fully recover today, as he is currently involved in doubles action alongside Brazilian partner Marcelo Melo.
The 26-year-old will return to singles competition tomorrow, when he takes on Nicolas Jarry for a spot in the semi-finals in Beijing.
Inside the baseline…
Tennis scheduling is often a topic of conversation, with late finishes becoming a lot more frequent than they probably should be. Zverev has an argument in this particular case, especially considering that there were so many match courts that were available and this could have an onward affect on the rest of his campaign in Beijing.
READ MORE: China Open 2023 Preview: When is it, who is playing and what is the prize money?
Alexander Zverev and his winning streak
Zverev is coming off the back of a 21st career title last week, as he eyes a return to the year-end ATP Finals in Turin:
Chengdu (ATP 250)
First Round – Received a bye as the top seed
Second Round – Beat Pavel Kotov, 7-6(5) 4-6 6-1
Quarter-final – Beat Miomir Kecmanovic (7), 5-7 7-5 6-2
Semi-final – Beat Grigor Dimitrov (3), 6-3 7-6(2)
Final – Beat Roman Safiullin, 6(2)-7 7-6(5) 6-3
Beijing (ATP 500)
First Round – Beat Diego Schwartzman, 6(2)-7 6-1 6-4
Second Round – Beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, 6(4)-7 6-2 6-1
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