Alexander Zverev began his clay-court season with a victory on Tuesday, defeating Alexander Bublik 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.
The German was competing on the surface for the first time since withdrawing from his Roland Garros semi-final match against Rafael Nadal in 2022 due to a right ankle injury, and he overcame a sluggish start to defeat Bublik in one hour and 58 minutes.
The thirteenth seed improved on Court Rainier III as the first-round match progressed. With nine unforced errors and 21 successful strokes, he earned his ninth victory of the season.
Zverev, who is now 1-2 versus Bublik in their ATP Head2Head match history
“At times, I honestly felt terrible, but he made me feel wretched,” Zverev said. “Tactically, he played well, but he did not allow me to play my game. He prevented me from achieving my cadence and nearly won the match by a few points here and there.
“I’ve now had two weeks of practice. I find it to be the most natural surface. Typically, it takes me five to ten minutes to adjust to a clay court, but this year was somewhat different. I needed to clear my mind of the injury. I needed to adjust to sliding once more.”
The 25-year-old has reached the Monte-Carlo semifinals on two separate occasions, in 2018 and 2022. Six of Zverev’s 19 tour-level titles have been earned on clay, including ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in Rome (2017) and Madrid (2017). (2018, 22).