Aurélie Sacchelli, Media365, published on Monday April 14, 2025 at 6.55 p.m.
Even if he is currently lacking in confidence and results, Alexander Zverev was far too strong for Alexandre Müller in the first round of the Munich tournament on Monday. Ben Shelton also qualified for the next round, while Gaël Monfils was forced to forfeit.
Alexander Zverev lost his place in the world No. 2 this Monday for the benefit of Carlos Alcaraz, but he hopes that playing this week in Munich, in front of his audience, will help him regain confidence, he who has combined bad results from his lost final at the Australian Open in January. eliminated from entry to Monte-Carlo last week, the German player had not hidden that he was living a difficult period. But this Monday, he won a victory that will probably do him good. Opposed to the French Alexandre Müller, 40th in the world, who had given a hard time to Daniil Medvedev at the foot of the rock on Wednesday, he won 6-4, 6-1 in 1h21. The German player has only lost his service once and has succeeded in 27 winning shots, against only 11 for his opponent. Alexander Zverev started the match in the best way by taking the service of the French entrance to lead 2-0 then 3-1. But Müller did not drop anything and equalized at 3-3. However, at 4-4, the Frenchman still lost his service, then the set on the following game (6-4). The second round was even faster, since the 40th world held up to 1-1 and then lost five following games, facing a best zverev in all the compartments of the game. The German player, who can recover the place of n ° 2 next Monday (depending on the results of Carlos Alcaraz in Barcelona), will be opposed in the round of 16 in Tseng or Altmaier.
Shelton saves three match balls
Ben Shelton, seeded n ° 2 of the tournament and 15th in the world, won his first victory on clay of the season, eliminating the Croatian Borna Gojo, 410th and resulting from the qualifications, on the score of 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 in 2h26. The American, not really lover of this surface, lost the first set by giving in his service to 1-1, then he had to save two match balls at 6-4 and 6-5 in the tie-break of the second, which he finally won 8-6. In the third round, Shelton still passed very close to the disaster, saving a match ball at 6-5, but he got out again in the decisive game, won 7-3. Next opponent: Van de Zandschulp or Bautista agut. Also note this Monday the announcement of the Package of Gaël Monfils, who was to face Denis Shapovalov in the first round. The Frenchman, eliminated by Andrey Rublev in Monte-Carlo, did not reveal the cause of his renunciation. He trained during the day with Ugo Humbert, but it was obviously not successful.
