Sascha Zverev is not new to struggling in a first round to then get better during the tournament.

Once again, the German had to battle hard in an opener, and this time it was at the Flushing Meadows against the world no.168 Darian King that was playing for the first time in his a career a match in a slam.

The match

Sascha found himself battling from a 1 break down from the very beginning (1-3). Then, the German took charge of the situation to break his opponent a couple of times and lead 5-3. At that point, it seemed as the seed no.4 was destined to win the opener and the match without much trouble, but Sascha surprised again after he failed to serve out the set. The affair went to the breaker that the German won at 9 after saving 2 set points.

The second set was decided in the 11^th game (6-5) after Sascha managed to win the decisive break before holding serve (7-5). 

The German broke King again in the 3^rd game of the 3^rd set (2-1), but he had a tough time to hold his serve in the 8^th game after he saved 2 break points. Eventually, Sascha held his serve before winning the contest 7-6 (9) 7-5 6-4. The match ended 2.04am.

It was probably tougher than he expected but Sascha is through to the second round! He plays Coric next! #TeamZverev pic.twitter.com/AkWKrxBRUE

— AlexanderZverevFans (@FanZverev) August 29, 2017

Next vs. Coric

Sascha will face fellow #nextgen Borna Coric in the 2^nd round. The head to head is 1-0 for Coric, but that was 2 years ago when Sascha wasn’t at the current levels.