Heavy defeat for Alexander Zverev against lightweight David Goffin: The German is out of the Masters in Shanghai after a 4:6, 5:7 defeat.
At the same time, the top German player was unable to equal his record of 60 tour victories in one season, which he set in 2018. Only world number one Jannik Sinner has broken the mark this season.
Instead of Zverev, Goffin will now face the American Taylor Fritz in the round of the last eight, with whom Zverev would have liked to take revenge for his recent defeats.
Against Goffin, who is only 1.80 meters tall and weighs 70 kilograms, the Tokyo Olympic champion had to struggle enormously with the returns and passing balls of the former world number seven at the beginning of the match – Zverev complained in the direction of his box. Goffin repeatedly lured the favorite with half-long slice balls to the net in order to counter him there. The 33-year-old secured the break to make it 4:3, which he managed to get through.
Zverev only won 65 percent of the points on his own first serve in the first round and had to improve. But the French Open finalist seemed unsettled and repeatedly made avoidable mistakes. Towards the end of the second round, the clever Goffin managed the decisive break, much to the German’s obvious displeasure, as he hit a ball into the night air.
