Clay court season has been already on the way another tournament is gonna be held in Morocco ATP Tournament in sunny Marrakech. Tournaments favorite Alexander Zverev and Denis Istomin meet in the first round. Both talented players will play in a serious confrontation. Review our thoughts on this match here below.
Alexander Zverev
First of the German pride – Alex Zverev. Worlds number 3 at 21 years old he’s the best youngster by a mile. A matter of time for him at becoming a slam champion most probably. Sascha’s form is half decent would fit the description most accurately. Reached two finals in which both lost but didn’t do very well in the big tournaments. Lost in Indian Wells unexpectedly to Jan Lennard Struff quite heavily and to veteran David Ferrer in Miami. So Zverev wants to start off from scratch on the red dirt.
Zverev style is known as a controlled aggressive baseliner. He’s got a great tennis body. Though he’s very tall his skinny physique lets his move very well on all surfaces. Backhand is his main weapon as German admits it himself. It really is world class. His forehand is improving and his serve is good though not consistent. Difficult to exclude his best surface as he plays well on all but Sacha has grown up on clay courts and said it himself that it is his favorite surface.
Denis Istomin
Denis Istomin is also a national hero one of the most famous athletes from Uzbekistan. Having won several trophies in his career he once was a solid Top 50 player. However, couldn’t keep himself injury free consistently he struggled with ups and downs. He did get himself in better shape the last couple of years as he probably himself got tired of being injured all the time and not fulfilling his potential. Still, this season is a struggle as well. 6 wins against 9 losses. All matches have been played on hard and the most recent one has been yet another retirement due to injury. So it’s a question if Istomin is fully fit already.
Though also being a big guy he likes to hit from the baseline, has a really good serve a beautiful two-handed backhand and a good forehand. His groundstrokes are very flat and he’s got that so-called “easy power” similar to Tomas Berdych when it seems like they barely strike the ball and it just flies from the strings. Can play at a very high level when on his day and fit. Showed that in one of AO beating Djokovic. His favorite surface is grass.
H2H
Players have met once in. 2015 and Zverev won in three.
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