Former world number two Alexander Zverev suffered his second consecutive defeat of the season in Monday’s United Cup, knocked out by American Taylor Fritz in just 64 minutes.
The 25-year-old German, currently world No. 12, was beaten 6-1, 6-4 by world No. 9 in Sydney, having just returned from a serious injury.
He lost to Czech Jiri Lehecka (81st) on Saturday, in his first competitive match since tearing three ligaments in his right ankle during the Roland-Garros semi-final against Rafael Nadal in June.
“I’ve just been training, focusing on some of the things I didn’t like in the first game,” said Fritz, referring to his first United Cup win, also against Lehecka.
Fritz made a breakthrough in 2022, defeating Rafael Nadal in the final of the Indian Wells tournament and winning titles in Tokyo and Eastbourne.
Zverev had away problems which prevented him from playing full throttle, and looked lackluster in the first set, which was finished in just 21 minutes.
He missed a single point on Fritz’s first serve and only two on the American’s second serve.
Olympic champion Zverev, who dropped to world No. 12 from No. 2 before his injury, was more combative in the second set as his confidence grew.
He held serve but was broken on his next serve to make it 3-1. Zverev got his first and only break point of the game at 2-3, but Fritz held on and grabbed the win with an ace.
The mixed team tournament features 18 countries playing in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.
The two group winners from each city will advance to Wednesday’s city final, with the winner of that final going into the bottom four.
Late on Monday, world number two Rafael Nadal will be looking to bounce back from a three-set loss to Cameron Norrie and claim his first win of the season against Australian Alex de Minaur.
In Perth, France and Croatia will battle it out for victory in Group F.
