Australian Open 2023, 2nd round, Thursday, 19.01.2023
That was a close one! Alexander Zverev returns to the big stage at the Australian Open 2023, barely surviving his first match after his nasty injury. It was clear to everyone: this is not the old Zverev yet.
On Thursday night, the Olympic champion will take to the court for a second time, once again facing a qualifier. Betano’s imagination obviously does not yet go so far as to imagine a defeat.
The odds are quite clear with an average of 1.15 to 6.00. In my Mmoh Zverev tip, I will now take a close look at both players and reveal why I once again assume a weak phase for the favourite!
Alexander Zverev has been waiting since 3 June to finally be allowed to compete again. He struggled back for months after the serious injury he suffered at the French Open.
The time had come for Zverev to play Juan Pablo Varillas, and he was heavily favoured. But as it happens with a world star who hasn’t been allowed to play for months, suddenly even the biggest underdogs are difficult to play against.
4-6, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6, 6-4 – Germany’s best tennis player had the greatest difficulties to prevail against his actually inferior opponent. Zverev had 18 break chances, but could only use five of them.
His 86% of points won on the first serve were very strong. The 25-year-old knew after his win that this performance would not be enough to advance to the next round.
Midway through the third set, Zverev himself said that his tennis had finally improved again, only the lack of match practice was getting to him. National coach Michael Kohlmann reckons his protégé made it through the four and a half hours in one piece.
“I could imagine that the next match will be much better,” said the coach. In any case, Michael Mmoh should not be a stumbling block on Thursday, Zverev has never been eliminated in a 2nd round at the Australian Open.
He already had to duel Mmoh once at the Miami Masters six years ago, coming to a very close 7-6, 7-6 then. The world number 107 would probably be happy to achieve such a close result this time as well.
The Saudi-born professional first had to struggle through the qualifiers in Melbourne, where he achieved three straight wins against Bruno Kuzuhara, Benoit Paire and Aleksandar Vukic.
As soon as the main draw was reached, things did not go without a hitch. Laurent Lokoli was his opponent’s name and a rather lively match developed. Mmoh lost the first two sets 4-6 and was on the verge of elimination.
But the 25-year-old turned the tables in the third set. 7-6, 6-4, 6-2, he became stronger with every game. With 68% of points won on first serve, his score is well below that of Alexander Zverev.
Michael Mmoh has not yet had anything to do with a 3rd round at the Australian Open. In 2020 and 2021, he got past the first hurdle but subsequently lost out.
Roberto Bautista-Agut and Rafael Nadal, both times a Spaniard was involved.
Mmoh was in good form in 2022 and also won titles. However, this “only” happened at Challenger level, and it is not for nothing that the American is waiting to break into the world’s top 100 again.
Alexander Zverev has a real tour de force behind him, and his first match at the Australian Open was definitely a tough one. As already mentioned, the Olympic champion still had big problems in some moments.
On a good day, he should have beaten Michael Mmoh without difficulty, but the lack of match practice was more noticeable than expected. That’s exactly what the US American will be looking to capitalise on on Thursday.
Mmoh survived the qualifiers and came back strongly in the 1st round after trailing 2-0. I therefore trust the underdog to cause Alexander Zverev a little problem in at least one set. Therefore, my tip is:
Mmoh takes a set against Zverev!
