Google News ATP Rotterdam day 3 HIGHLIGHTS: Murray, Nishikori, Zverev...
by LORENZO CIOTTI
The third day of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament opened with a big surprise. Alexander Bublik managed to win his first round match against Alexander Zverev. The Kazakh player started the game by immediately losing his serve and missing some easy shots, but then raised his head and made his unpredictable tennis effective.
Bublik recovered the break from behind in the eighth game of the first set and closed the set at 7-5 with a smash. In the second set, Zverev found himself in an instant on 3-1 and serve, but at the very best moment the light went out and he literally lost control of his shots.
The German lost five games in a row and the match with the final score of 7-5, 6-3. Another important victory arrives for Kei Nishikori. The Japanese beat Alex de Minaur in three sets and won the second game of his 2021. All easy, however, for David Goffin.
After the tournament he won in Montpellier last week, the Belgian defeated Jan-Lennard Struff neatly on his debut. It lasts only one set Andy Murray against Andrey Rublev. The former world number one played top-notch tennis in the first set, but gave up on 5-5 by committing a painful double foul.
In the second set, the Russian imposed his pace on the match and comfortably finished 6-2. Dusan Lajovic. The Serbian took advantage of the nervousness of Daniil Medvedev, who repeatedly complained to the corner of him, and eliminated the number one seed.
In both sets, Medvedev took a break advantage and then lost the serve in an anomalous way. The match ended with the score of 7-6 (4), 6-4 and the three double fouls hit by the Russian in the ninth game of the third set can be considered the manifesto of his negative performance.
Medvedev thus loses the chance to overtake Rafael Nadal in the standings and reach the second position of the ATP ranking.