Zverev avoids shock Australian Open upset by qualifier Klein

Sixth seed Alexander Zverev survived a huge scare at the Australian Open on Thursday as the former semifinalist dug deep to beat Slovakian qualifier Lukas Klein 7-5 3-6 4-6 7-6(5) 7-6(7) and move into the third round.

Rain forced the four-and-a-half hour contest to be completed under cover on John Cain Arena and Zverev found himself in huge trouble as world number 163 Klein turned up the pressure after losing the opening set to take the next two.

“I would have much rather have won in an hour-and-a-half but what can I do?” Zverev said.

“He played incredible, was hitting every ball as hard as he could from both sides. I didn't really know what to do a lot of the time.

“He probably deserved to win more than me. That's how tennis goes sometimes. I'm happy I'm through, but his ranking is no value to how he's playing.”

The 25-year-old Klein, whose only previous Grand Slam main draw appearance was at Wimbledon in 2022, was inching towards his first career top-10 win, but squandered the chance to break at 4-4 in the fourth set, much to Zverev's relief.

“I was thinking there's a Qantas flight at 11pm tonight straight to Dubai and then one to home,” Zverev said, adding he was a spectator much of the time as Klein reeled off the winners, finishing with 80 in total.

“I was playing, but the match was his hands, he was playing winners or he was missing ... I'm extremely happy.”

But Klein also made 83 unforced errors, compared to only 36 from Zverev, and that proved to be the difference.

Zverev levelled the contest as Klein frittered away a 3-1 lead in the tiebreak and the 26-year-old German swapped breaks with his opponent early in the decider before holding his nerve in a tiebreak to prevail.

“Now I'm in the third round,” said Zverev, who will next face American Alex Michelsen.

“It's about recovering and being out here on court because that's what I love to do.”

Reuters