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Fifth seed Alexander Zverev of Germany demolished Thiago Monteiro of Brazil 6-1, 6-0 in the second round of the Swedish Open in Bastad on Thursday (July 20). It was a lop-sided encounter that saw the German cruise past his Brazilian opponent in less than two hours.
Zverev will face second seed Andrey Rublev of Russia in the quarter-final on Friday. Rublev has had a better year thus far, but the 26-year-old German's explosive performance against Monteiro will give him much confidence. Rublev might find it difficult to stop the big German, as he runs the risk of being overpowered by the latter.
On that note, let us take a look at two things that stood out in the match:
#1. It was a bad match-up for Thiago Montero
Alexander Zverev was a bad match-up for Thiago Monteiro, as his crosscourt forehand was directed at the German's backhand that is among the best in the business.
Zverev kept countering Monteiro's forehand with his backhand with aplomb throughout the match. The 29-year-old Brazilian southpaw had a lot of trouble asserting himself on the match. He also made Zverev's job easier by trying to use too much power off his forehand and thereby hitting the ball long on a number of occasions.
Zverev raced to a 5-0 lead in the first set before Monteiro could somehow avoid the bagel by holding his serve. That also turned out to be the only game he was able to win in the match.
#2. Alexander Zverev produced a majestic performance
Alexander Zverev was absolutely top-notch on the day - match-up issue or not. He hit his backhand well, played a few drop shots to perfection off his backhand and served with a lot of fire to make Thiago Monteiro's life difficult. The German also hit approaches at regular intervals before going to the net to finish off points.
He managed to achieve in the second set what he narrowly missed out on in the first - serving Monteiro a bagel. The Brazilian came close to winning a game on a number of occasions, but could not quite get his act together. Monteiro was able to win only 27% of the points on his first serve in the match, which was a disappointing piece of statistic, to say the least.
Rublev, however, will pose a stiffer challenge in all probability. Still, Zverev will have a strong chance of getting past him on Friday.
