Alexander Zverev goes past Adam Walton in Toronto opener

Alexander Zverev earned his first win after suffering a first-round shocking exit at Wimbledon, beating Adam Walton by 7-6, 6-4 in the opening round of the Toronto Open. The German was involved in a 52-shot long rally against the Australian in the first-set tiebreaker, and he was able to get the momentum on his side after winning that point.

The top-seed was able to bring his best to the court and registered a straight-set win. The German said winning that 52-shot rally was really important for him.

“It was a very important moment, very important point for me,” Zverev said. “Lucky to get through in the first set and finishing it off in two.”

Zverev was able to come up with a win and was delighted to move to the next round in Toronto.

“Sometimes it’s about winning a match, [despite] not always playing your best,” said Zverev. “I know it wasn’t the prettiest match, for sure, but I haven’t played a match in four weeks. I took some time off, which I needed also for myself. I’m happy to be playing again. Tomorrow is another day and I hope I will be better tomorrow.”

Zverev will face Matteo Arnaldi in the next round.

On the other hand, Holger Rune claimed a 7-6(7), 6-3 victory against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. The Dane came up with brilliant serving throughout the game to move forward in the tournament. The fifth seed said making small adjustments to his serve has really helped him.

“I haven’t served like this in a while,” said Rune, who dropped just three of 21 second-serve points. “I’ve been working on some small adjustments on my serve and it seems to be feeling good. It felt really good and I trusted it all the way.

“When he’s hitting those big serves, there’s not much to do, so it’s just about focusing on your own serve. I think I did that well. I’m just very happy with the match in general.”

Rune will take on Alexandre Müller in the round of 32.