Toronto Masters: Alexander Zverev wins opening match after tennis break

Toronto. Olympic champion Alexander Zverev kicked off the Toronto Masters with a hard-earned victory. The Hamburg-based tennis pro defeated Australian Adam Walton 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 to advance to the third round, where he will face Italian Matteo Arnaldi.

"Sometimes it's about winning the match, not how you play," Zverev said afterward. "I haven't played for four weeks, I took a break, which I needed. I'm happy to be in the third round."

Zverev is the number one seed due to the withdrawal of top players Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz and received a first-round bye. The hard-court tournament in Canada has a total purse of $9,193,540.

For Zverev, it marks his return to the ATP Tour after a lengthy hiatus. The 28-year-old took a break from competition a month ago following his first-round exit at Wimbledon. During this time, he spent ten days training at Rafael Nadal's tennis academy in Mallorca, receiving valuable advice from the former world number one and his uncle.

Against Walton, Zverev made too many errors in the first set, and only with difficulty did he win the set in the tiebreak, trailing 4-1 at one point. With the score at 5-5 in the tiebreak, the two pros exchanged 52 strokes, at the end of which Walton played the ball out of bounds.

In the second set, he missed several break chances in the first game and reacted with questioning glances toward the stands where his father, who is also his coach, was sitting. But then Zverev stepped up his game and dominated Walton with his serve. At 5-3 and on serve, victory seemed a mere formality, but Zverev conceded the first break and had to work even harder. A double fault from his opponent ended the match after 1:42 hours.

RND/dpa