{"id":20862,"date":"2025-09-27T18:04:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T18:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=20862"},"modified":"2025-09-27T18:04:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T18:04:06","slug":"zverev-wins-beijing-opener-as-gauff-launches-title-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=20862","title":{"rendered":"Zverev wins Beijing opener as Gauff launches title defence"},"content":{"rendered":"
Alexander Zverev saw off Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 6-3 with a dominant second set at the China Open on Friday as Coco Gauff launched her bid for a repeat crown.<\/p>\n

World number three Zverev, the second seed in Beijing, next faces France’s Corentin Moutet.<\/p>\n

The German and Sonego went toe-to-toe for 50 minutes before Zverev converted a break to edge the 30-year-old Italian in the first set after a brief back-and-forth at the net.<\/p>\n

A confident Zverev won four straight games in the second for a commanding 5-1 lead, and although 44th-ranked Sonego held on a little longer, the 28-year-old closed out the match on his first match point.<\/p>\n

Also in action at the Beijing ATP 500 event, fan favourite Daniil Medvedev beat Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-4.<\/p>\n

Medvedev hit nine aces for a spot in the last 16, avenging his his first-round loss to the Briton at Roland Garros in June.<\/p>\n

“There were some moments where I could be better but I’m happy with the general level of the match,” the 18th-ranked Russian told reporters.<\/p>\n

He said that while he was still far from his best tennis, he was improving.<\/p>\n

“I had dedication, I always have, but maybe I didn’t put it into the right way,” he said. “That’s what I’m trying to do again, step by step, now.”<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old former world number one is chasing his first title since 2023 but faces stiff competition in Beijing from Zverev and Italy’s Jannik Sinner.<\/p>\n

Medvedev next plays Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and world number two Sinner will face qualifier Terence Atmane of France.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Familiar ground<\/p>\n

In the women’s draw, 21-year-old Gauff brushed aside Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova 6-4, 6-0 to secure a spot in the last 32.<\/p>\n

“I think the mindset is a little bit different just because when you play well at a place, you have a lot of confidence,” Gauff said after the match.<\/p>\n

“When those tough moments happen, you feel the familiarity of the conditions from the years before that,” she said.<\/p>\n

The defending Beijing champion powered through a few drawn-out games to take down the 89th-ranked Russian in her first appearance since the US Open.<\/p>\n

An energised Gauff broke early in the second set and worked hard to save break points over the frustrated but defiant 24-year-old Rakhimova to close out the match without trouble.<\/p>\n

“I expected it to be close,” Gauff told reporters.<\/p>\n

“She’s a great player, and she’s had competitive results with top players in the last few tournaments.<\/p>\n

“I just found my rhythm and got in the flow.”<\/p>\n

The world number three from the United States will next face Canada’s Leylah Fernandez, who triumphed 6-2, 6-0 over Greece’s Maria Sakkari.<\/p>\n

Also into the next round is fellow American Amanda Anisimova, a US Open finalist, beating Britain’s Katie Boulter 6-1, 6-3.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old world number four next plays home favourite Zhang Shuai — who last year in Beijing snapped a more than 600-day winless singles streak as then-world no. 595.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alexander Zverev saw off Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 6-3 with a dominant second set at the China Open on Friday as Coco Gauff launched her bid for a repeat crown. World number three Zverev, the second seed in Beijing, next faces France’s Corentin Moutet. The German and Sonego went toe-to-toe for 50 minutes before Zverev converted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20862\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}