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Alexander Zverev Australian Open 2021
Alexander Zverev, Tennis News

Emil Ruusuvuori stuns Alexander Zverev at Miami Open


Alexander Zverev suffered a shock defeat to promising youngster Emil Ruusovuori in the second round of the Miami Open.

Zverev, who was pushed up to third seed for the event, took the first set in comprehensive fashion by six games to one before the Finn made a remarkable comeback.

Ruusovuori took the following set 6-3 before winning the deciding set 6-1 to beat last week’s Acapulco champion and claim the biggest win of his career.

Alexander Zverev was dominant on serve in the first set, winning 80% of first serve points and preventing the 21-year-old from having a break point opportunity.

The second set couldn’t have been more different, with the Finn earning 15 break point opportunities and converting four to level the match.

The deciding set followed a similar pattern, with Ruusuvuori breaking Zverev on two further occasions and winning a stunning 87% (13/15 points) on serve to oust the German.

“I don’t even know myself how I turned this match around. I wasn’t feeling very comfortable in the first set and I was making a lot of unforced errors, but slowly in the second set I was starting to feel a bit better”, said Ruusuvuori.

“Of course, it’s one of the biggest wins in my career so it feels good.

“I wanted to play the same way in the first set too, but I was just missing too much and he was playing pretty okay, making a lot of balls and it was tough to return the serve.

“In the end, I was not making a lot of mistakes and picking my shots very well. That of course helps a lot in tennis!”

Ruusuvuori, who is in the third round of an ATP Masters 1000 event for the second time, will now face Mikael Ymer who battled past 2021 Doha champion Nikoloz Basilashvili.


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Tim Farthing, Tennishead Editorial Director & Owner, has been a huge tennis fan his whole life. He's a tennis journalist and entrepreneur as well as playing tennis to a national standard. He also helps manage his local club and volunteers for his local tennis organisation. He's a specialist in content about the administration of professional tennis and tennis coaching for all levels.