Oh brother, where art thou? Older Zverev wins, young Zverev crashes out of U.S.Open

Written by: Staff on 31st August 2017

Oh brother, where art thou? Older Zverev wins, young Zverev crashes out of U.S.Open |

By Ricky Dimon

With almost a full schedule of U.S. Open play wiped out by rain on Tuesday, an inordinate number of matches took place on Wednesday. Two of them, in particular, packed enough drama into them to satisfy a quotient for the entire lot. And those two featured players from the same family.

Not only did Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev partake in thrillers during second-round action, but they were also on the court simultaneously, While the younger Zverev battled Borna Coric on the Grandstand, the older Zverev was locked in a tussle with Benoit Paire.

On that note, has anyone told papa Zverev that you can see Court 4 (where Mischa faced Paire) from the balcony of the Grandstand? Granted the vintage point is not ideal, but their dad at least could have ventured up their once during the critical stages of Mishca’s match and kept an eye on both at the same time. Instead, he was courtside for Alexander’s match from start to finish.

It turned out to be the wrong decision.

Whereas Alexander was stunned in a tight four-setter by Cotic, Mischa held off Paire in five. Approximately 10 minutes before Alexander lost to Coric 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(1), 7-6(4), Mischa got past the finish line against Paire 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-7(3), 7-5.

“I think overall I’m very happy because (in) the first round I played five sets against someone who was ranked not very high,” said Mischa, who beat University of Virginia standout Thai-Son Kwiatkowski in his opener. “Everybody was like, ‘Well, you should have won easier.’ I said, ‘First round in a slam, if you win, that’s already good. Doesn’t matter if it’s three or five sets.’ I feel like today I played much better, thank God. It was also five sets. I’m, again, happy I got the win.”

Not so for Sascha.

“It’s upsetting because the draw is pretty open in the bottom part,” he lamented. “I felt like I should have been the favored there…. But that’s how it is. I was the highest-ranked player in the bottom half of the draw after Andy (Murray) retired. Now I’m out of the draw.”

Also missing out on big opportunities in the bottom half were Steve Johnson, Jared Donaldson, Gilles Muller, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga–the latter who lost to a red-hot Denis Shapovalov in straight sets. John Isner and Sam Querrey, however, continued to cruise and look like serious final contenders.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.

Topics: Alexander Zverev, Benoit Paire, Borna Coric, Mischa Zverev, Tennis News, US Open, Zverev