Zverev’s poor serving performance headlines Adria Tour Zadar Day 1

The Adria Tour’s second leg in Zadar, Croatia, kicked off with a bang. Here’s a breakdown of Day 1, as well as a lookahead and projection of the finals.

The Adria Tour‘s second leg in Zadar got off to a seemingly substandard start in comparison to last week’s slew of great matches in Belgrade. The most shocking came from World #7 Alexander Zverev, who, in a 4-3 (2), 4-3 (1) loss to Danilo Petrovic (currently ranked 157th), committed an absurd 12 double faults in the shortened Fast4 format in his first match. His 24% of points won on his second serve was by far the lowest on tour this season.

Zverev improved mightily in his second match, however, beating Croat Marin Cilic 4-3(1), 0-4, 4-3(1). He dominated the first set tiebreak, winning 7-1, before being broken twice to lose the second, 0-4. The German fell behind 2-0 in the final set before coming back to take over the 3rd set tiebreak.

Novak Djokovic showed why he was the best in the world as he won both of his matches on Day 1 without dropping a set. While he needed to come back from a break down in both matches, he came back and won with ease.

He started the day with a win over Pedja Krstin 4-3(3), 4-1, coming back from a 3-1 first set deficit before taking control and dispatching Krstin. The World #1 followed that up with a win over Borna Coric 4-1, 4-3(1). Djokovic again fought back from a break down once again, this time in the second set. He finished with the same result, a win.

One of the best players alongside Djokovic was youngster Andrey Rublev, who was the only other player to win both of his Day 1 matches. He pushed through and won his first match over Cilic 4-3 (5), 2-4, 4-1, surviving a first set tiebreak and a second set loss before taking over the final set to win the match. Rublev regained composure and outclassed Petrovic 4-2, 4-1 in his second match.

Heading into Day 2 and the championship, Djokovic and Rublev lead their respective groups heading into the final matches tomorrow.

Group Standings

Player name, match record, sets record, games record

 Group A (Group Novak Djokovic)

1. Novak Djokovic: 2-0, 4-0, 16-8
2. Borna Coric: 1-1, 2-2, 12-10
3. Grigor Dimitrov/Nino Serdarusic: 1-1, 2-2, 10-14
4. Pedja Krstin: 0-2, 0-4, 10-16

Group B (Group Alexander Zverev)

1. Andrey Rublev: 2-0, 4-1, 18-15
2. Danilo Petrovic: 1-1, 2-2, 11-14
3. Alexander Zverev: 1-1, 3-3, 14-18
4. Marin Cilic: 0-2, 2-4, 18-16

Djokovic is locked into the final after his sizzling Day 1 performance. He’s all but confirmed to be in the final after his two matches. With only one match left until the final tomorrow night, it’ll be likely that Djokovic will be in the final unless:

1. He loses handily 2 sets to none to Serdarusic and wins less than 4 total games
2. Borna Coric beats Krstin 2-0 and doesn’t lose more than 5 total games

This is the only scenario that Coric can overtake Djokovic and reach the final. However, it seems unlikely given the fantastic play of Djokovic so far in Croatia.

The Group B standings are more congested, with the top three players all remaining in contention for a finals berth. Zverev and Rublev face off tomorrow, which could be the deciding factor, however not for Zverev. Given the German’s record, his match outcome will only determine the top two in the group.

Petrovic advances to finals if:

1. Petrovic wins two sets to none over Cilic
2. Rublev loses to Zverev two sets to none

If Rublev wins at least one set against Zverev, he’ll advance into the finals based on his projected sets record of 5 wins, which is impossible for Petrovic to reach with only one match.

Day 2 Matches

Borna Coric (2nd in Group A) vs Pedja Krstin (4th in Group A)

Alexander Zverev (3rd in Group B) vs Andrey Rublev (1st in Group B)

Novak Djokovic (1st in Group A) vs Nino Serdarusic (3rd in Group A)

Danilo Petrovic (2nd in Group B) vs Marin Cilic (4th in Group B)

The finals begin at 8PM to determine the winner of the Adria Tour’s second leg. Dominic Thiem became the tour’s first winner last weekend in Belgrade. The Adria Tour is tennis’ first exhibition event to be held with fans in attendance.