It was Schwärzler's first appearance on the stage of an ATP 500 tournament, and in front of a packed Wiener Stadthalle to boot. At the beginning, the crowd supported the local hero and Schwärzler was able to hold his own against Zverev in the first few games. However, Zverev managed the first break to make it 2-1. Schwärzler was unable to capitalize on a 40:0 lead, conceding the game and subsequently the set 6-2.
The story continued in the second set: While Schwärzler couldn't get a grip on Zverev's service at all, he repeatedly prepared points well on his own serve, only to give them away again in the end with an unforced error.
What's more, Zverev didn't show any weakness at all on his own serve and also played a dust-dry game. At 5-1, Schwärzler was able to save three match points on his own serve, but after 68 minutes Zverev finally served out the match easily.
Fun and nervousness
“It was definitely fun to play here,” explained Schwärzler after the lesson. “Of course I was nervous, but that will pass with time.” The Vorarlberg native talked about his match plan: “I didn't want to play into his backhand if possible, but I didn't play my own backhand so well today and couldn't build up the pressure I wanted.”
During the shakehand, Zverev spoke to the young Austrian for a long time. “He only told me positive things,” revealed Schwärzler. “We've already trained together this week. He's just incredibly nice.”
“He's a super player and a super talent,” explained Zverev after the match. “He will go a long way. He can definitely become Dominc Thiem's successor in Austria, but you shouldn't underestimate Dominic's career. He has won a Grand Slam title and a Masters tournament. It's not that easy. Joel got off to a great start today and I was lucky to break him early. After that, things went a bit downhill for him. But that's normal, this big stage is new to him.”
Berrettini and Cobolli continue
Matteo Berrettini did not show any weakness. The Italian beat Hungarian qualifier Marton Fucsovics 7:5, 6:4. A second Italian, Flavio Cobolli, also made it through to the second round, beating Spain's Davidovich Fokina 7:6 (1), 6:3.
