ATP Masters in Miami, quarter-finals, Thursday, 28.03.2024
He’s getting stronger with every appearance – and we’re storming towards the final in leaps and bounds! It’s currently incredibly fun to watch what Alexander Zverev is conjuring up on court at the ATP Masters in Miami.
He has gone from round to round without dropping a set and now faces a real surprise player in the quarter-finals. The odds in our sports betting apps? They can only imagine a German winner.
And although I find the outsider’s performances incredibly impressive, I’ll tell you in my Zverev Marozsan tip why I would also bet on an outright victory for the Olympic champion
Is it the sunny temperatures? Does it have more to do with the fact that girlfriend Sophia Thomalla is supporting him from the stands? Is he just in a good mood or does Miami just suit him that well?
Alexander Zverev has reached the quarter-finals – so far so good. Such results are of course expected from Germany’s best tennis player, but he still deserves special praise for his performances in Miami.
He himself practiced understatement recently when he said: “Of course I’m very happy to win 6:1, 6:4 against a player like Karen – you have to play in order. Not much went wrong. I hope I can continue to play like this.”
These were comments after a 6-1, 6-4 win over Karen Khachanov, his third straight outright victory. “Playing alright” was of course a gross understatement from the 27-year-old, who dominated his opponent at will
His thunderous serve ensured that the match was over after an hour. It has been almost two years since his serious injury and he is now back to his old level without any ifs or buts.
In Miami, he started with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Felix Auger-Aliassime, followed shortly afterwards by a 7-6, 6-3 win over Christopher Eubanks. What is striking is that the Hamburg-born player did not produce a single double fault in these three matches.
So his nerves are playing their part, Auger-Aliassime and Khachanov didn’t get a single chance to break. Zverev’s service came hard over the net, which is actually atypical for him: even the average points won on his second serve were well over 80 percent!
His three opponents had given him 13 opportunities to break and he was able to convert eight of them. Whichever way you look at it, in the end we have to conclude: Zverev in this form is hard to beat for any opponent!
Candidates such as Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev are still ahead of him in the bookmakers’ favor when it comes to winning the tournament. Zverev won’t care about that at all, he’s just concentrating on his own game.
On Thursday, he will face Fabia Marozsan, the up-and-coming player from Hungary, for the first time ever. With odds of 1.25 to 3.75, he is ahead, but should also know what his opponent can do.
Fabian Marozsan is currently ranked 57th in the world rankings, but of course this is by no means the end of the story. In the last few months, he didn’t really stand out, but that was different in Indian Wells.
He made it as far as the round of 16, where he was defeated by Carlos Alcaraz, the eventual champion. Little did he know at the time that he would go one round further in Miami
After his 6-3, 6-2 win over Aleksandar Kovacevic to open the tournament, he struck a real blow against Holger Rune, thumping the top man 6-1, 6-1! A resounding victory that hardly anyone would have expected.
He also got away with it against Alexei Popyrin, winning 7-5, 6-3. The only set he has lost so far was a very strange one. In the round of 16 against Alex de Minaur, the spectators were treated to a match that really doesn’t happen all that often.
6-4, 0-6, 6-1, coming back from a total loss in the second set – not everyone manages that. Although the Hungarian is no “dwarf” at 1.93 meters tall, he is nowhere near Zverev’s service statistics.
Only once, for example, did he win more than 70% of his points on his first serve. Of course, Marozsan can’t keep up in terms of experience either; in Miami, for example, he is now competing for the first time ever
My Zverev Marozsan tip
Alexander Zverev not only beats his opponents here in Miami, he downright outclasses them. With a hard-hitting serve, he moves on without losing a set, and he only needed an hour of play against Khachanov.
Fabian Marozsan is of course the clear underdog, although his performances to date have of course made a huge impression. Nevertheless, I can’t imagine that he will have much fun against a Zverev in this form. And that’s why my tip is:
Zverev also beats Marozsan easily!
