WORLD number three Alexander Zverev has made light of former junior boys world number one Joel Schwaerzler in the opening round at Vienna after the top seed dismissed the teenager in straight sets, 6-2 6-2. Zverev – who enters the tournament as favourite without Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz there, only needed 67 minutes to stamp his ticket into the next round of the Erste Bank Open.

Schwaerzler is no slouch, with the Austrian able to get a wildcard into his home tournament, just his second ATP Tour career match. Earlier in the year, the Austrian went down to Thiago Seyboth Wild in Kitzbuhel 6-2 7-6, but was unable to have as much impact against the third ranked player in the world.

In what was his ATP Tour hard court debut, 18-year-old Schwaerzler won 61 per cent of his first points off the same percentage clip, while producing an ace against the top-seeded German. Currently ranked 347th in the world, Schwaerzler only managed to win one point off Zverev’s first serve – and six in total off the German’s racquet when receiving.

The 27-year-old Zverev has a sole title to his name – the ATP Masters 1000 in Rome – this year, following up from wins in Chengdu and Hamburg in 2023. However the top seed in Austria is a former Vienna winner, lifting the trophy back in 2021, his breakout season which yielded six titles including Olympic Gold, two ATP Masters 1000s and the ATP Finals trophy.

Not facing a break point all match and looking completely dominant when on serve, Zverev said that Schwaerzler’s predicament – playing in your home country as a kid against against a top player – was something he could relate to.

“When you come to your home tournament and probably the biggest crowd you have played in front of, as an 18-year-old and you’re playing the world number three, it’s not the easiest thing in the world,” Zverev said. “I’ve been there. I did that as a 17-year-old in Hamburg, where I got to the semi-finals and all of a sudden had a sold out stadium and was playing against a certain David Ferrer.

“I was hoping to have a good match, but the match was over half an hour later and I won one game. I know exactly how [Schwaerzler] feels. It’s not an easy situation to be in, but he’s a wonderful player and he’s going to have a wonderful career. Nobody should judge him by this match.”

Zverev has already qualified for the end of year ATP Finals in third spot behind Sinner and Alcaraz, though still has a chance to snatch second off the Spaniard with a strong finish. His next match in Vienna will be against an American, one of Alex Michelsen or Marcos Giron.

In other results, it was a good day for the Italians with both Matteo Berrettini and Flavio Cobolli winning, taking out Hungarian qualifier Marton Fucsovics and Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina respectively. In the last match of the day, Next Gen qualifier Jakub Mensik shook off an early challenge from Aussie eighth seed Alexei Popyrin to win 7-6 6-2 and book his spot in the second round.

There are tantalising matches set for day two of the tournament with Austrian Grand Slam champion Dominic Thiem the main event. After repeated injury setbacks the last couple of years, the former US Open champion will kick-off his “last dance” in his home nation by taking on Italian Luciano Darderi in the first round.

The clash is one of four Center Court contests with Aussie second seed Alex de Minaur chasing eighth spot in the ATP Finals when he begins his campaign against German Jan-Lennard Struff. American fifth seed Frances Tiafoe takes on former Top 20 player Cameron Norrie, while former Top 5 player Kei Nishikori has a tough first-up test against British seventh seed Jack Draper.

AROUND THE TOUR

The first round of the Swiss Indoors ATP 500 event also started overnight with top seed Andrey Rublev getting an all-important Round of 32 win. The Russian needs to keep winning in order to fend off de Minaur from his coveted eighth spot in the ATP Finals, and his tournament started on a winning note with a 64-minute, 6-3 6-2 rout of Portugese player Nuno Borges.

French seeds Ugo Humbert and Arthur Fils both picked up first round wins on Center Court, the latter of whom is leading the Next Gen Finals race. A third Frenchman – and another Next Gen eligible player – in big-serving Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard also advanced, defeating Australian qualifier James Duckworth 7-6 6-3, producing a ridiculous 21 aces en route to victory.

Belgian lucky loser David Goffin made the most of his second chance into the main draw with a come-from-behind win against talented Italian Matteo Arnaldi, 6-7 6-3 6-2.

Looking ahead to today’s action, top six seeds Stefanos Tsitsipas, Holger Rune and Ben Shelton all feature against a bevy of South Americans. They face Francisco Cerundolo, Nicolas Jarry and Tomas Etcheverry respectively. One of the most tantalising matches sees former Top 10 Canadian and wildcard Denis Shapovalov clashing with Chinese teenager Juncheng Shang.