MUNICH, April 28, 2021

Alexander Zverev began his home campaign at the BMW Open in Munich with a comfortable second-round win. On a sunny Wednesday afternoon at the MTTC Iphitos, the top seed of the ATP 250 tournament defeated Ricardas Berankis from Lithuania 6-2, 6-4.

Zverev sent down six aces and won 73 per cent of his first-service points to advance after one hour and 26 minutes.

Sealed with an ace 💥@AlexZverev‘s quest for a third Munich title begins with a 6-2 6-4 win against Berankis#BMWOpen pic.twitter.com/8B0sOrfbJ7

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 28, 2021

“I haven’t played much tennis the past few weeks, so I know I’ll need to improve for the next match,” said Zverev, who also confirmed that he has overcome his recent right elbow injury. “I’ve had success in the past and I feel good here. I’ve played well in the practice and hopefully I can do better on the match court.”

The 24-year-old German and two-time Munich champion will next play Ilya Ivashka from Belarus in the quarterfinals. The World No. 107 from Minsk, who pushed clay-court king Rafael Nadal to three sets at last week’s Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, emerged victorious from the battle of the qualifiers with US-American Mackenzie McDonald, winning 6-7(7), 6-1, 6-2 in two hours and five minutes.

Ruud remains untroubled

Earlier in the day, No. 2 seed Casper Ruud opened his title bid with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Pablo Cuevas from Uruguay. The 22-year-old Norwegian converted three of his five break-point chances to prevail after 68 minutes.

“Pablo is a tough opponent to play, especially on clay. He is very athletic and he moves well but he is probably not in the shape of his life, as he had to deal with injuries in recent times. I had a good start into the match and broke him in the beginning,” said Ruud.

“I hope for a good tournament. I had a good start into the clay-court season. I played here two times before. They gave me a wild card when I was very young and will enjoy my time here.”

Ruud will next take on Australian John Millman, who benefited from the retirement of Guido Pella. Millman was leading 6-4, 2-0 when the Argentine was forced to stop playing due to a right leg injury.

Next stop: Quarter-Finals 🔥

🇩🇪 Zverev d. Berankis 🇱🇹
🇳🇴 Ruud d. Cuevas 🇺🇾
🇦🇺 Millman d. Pella 🇦🇷
🇧🇾 Ivashka d. McDonald 🇺🇸@BMWOpen2021

— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 28, 2021