Alexander Zverev falls flat at ATP Swiss Indoors

Alexander Zverev

Basel (Switzerland): World No. 6 Alexander Zverev described his 7-6 (9/7), 6-4 loss to Taylor Fritz as 'flat' as he was knocked out of the ATP Swiss Indoors on Tuesday. The German's loss to the American, 21, came barely a week after defeat in the Shanghai Masters final to Daniil Medvedev and puts his chance of defending his ATP Finals title at risk. "I was completely flat for some reason," he said. "I was tired and not focused at all. It was a weird feeling," he added.

Zverev won the season-ending tournament last November, beating Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic back-to-back. The season points race will be determined next week at the Paris Masters as the last two of the eight spots are decided.

Mind over matter

"The way I played today, in my current mental state, I'm not going to beat anybody," Zverev, ranked seventh in the world, said. "I'm very disappointed but it's more about myself than the result." Zverev fought hard to take the opening set into a tiebreaker, but was overwhelmed in the second by his American opponent in 86 minutes.

"Normally I really enjoy it on court, the tough moments, the fighting," Zverev said. "But today I was completely out of it. I may go home for a few days and clear my mind. I'll try to do well in Paris and hopefully make it to London."

Wawrinka advances

Meanwhile, Stan Wawrinka fired 10 aces and 30 winners to overwhelm fellow veteran Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 6-4 to reach the second round of the Swiss Indoors yesterday, keeping alive his outside chances of making the ATP Finals. Sixth seed David Goffin also stayed in the race to London with a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of MariCilic.

Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania lined up a second-round match with third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas after defeating Pablo Andujar 6-1, 6-1. Filip Krajinovic will next take on Fabio Fognini after going past Laslo Djere, 6-1, 6-4.