Yen-Hsun Lu meets Alexander Zverev in the first round of the Rogers Cup in Toronto. The two are coming off of differing results last week at the Citi Open in Washington DC. Lu lost in the second round to eventual champion Gael Monfils. Zverev also lost to Monfils, but in the semifinals. The winner of this match will meet fourth-seeded home favorite Milos Raonic in the second round.
Head-to-Head
The German and the Taiwanese have never met in their careers before this meeting.
Lu’s Recent Results
The world number 70 has only been playing for a few months now because of injury. Lu has gone on a run of ATP Challenger Tour finals. His run started in early May where he lost in the Seoul Challenger final to Sergiy Stakhovsky. The grass season saw him reach his second final but also suffer a second loss, this time to Dustin Brown in the Manchester Challenger.
He finally got his hands on a Challenger title, winning in Surbiton. He defeated Marius Copil in straight sets by a score of 7-5, 7-6(11). The following week in Ilkley, Lu took out Copil in the opening round of the tournament. He took the title over Vincent Millot in straight sets.
Lu is only 2-3 in tour-level events this year. The Taiwanese picked a win apiece at Wimbledon and the Citi Open. The other event he played on which was tour-level was the French Open where he lost to Novak Djokovic in straight sets.
Zverev’s Recent Results
The German just reached a new career-high ranking this week after his semifinal run at the Citi Open. The 19-year-old is 25 in the world right now and his past few results have helped him get to this point. He lost in the Nice final to Dominic Thiem and met him a week later at the French Open where the Austrian would best him once again.
The Gerry Weber Open in Halle was his best shot for his first career title. He defeated a rusty Roger Federer in the semifinals and took on Florian Mayer in the final. It was Mayer’s first tournament back after a long injury layoff. He defied the odds to defeat his young compatriot to win the title. Zverev followed up his finals showing with a third round appearance at Wimbledon, losing to eventual semifinalist Tomas Berdych.
Analysis
This is a match that the German should take. Lu will keep the match competitive and will test the 19-year-old at times but offers no weapons that will really threaten him. The Taiwan native could really make his impact on the Zverev serve. Although the German stands at 6’6’’, his serve doesn’t really blow anyone away which is unlike the players of his height such as Milos Raonic, Juan Martin del Potro, and Marin Cilic.
In terms of groundstrokes, Zverev has the edge on both strokes, but the margin between the two on the forehand is closer than on the backhand. Both men have solid forehands although that’s the side that tends to be more consistent for Lu. The Zverev backhand is one of the better ones on the tour. In terms of two-handers, it’s likely in the second-tier of top backhands, and that’s the side where he’ll do the most damage on.
Prediction: Zverev in straight sets