SHANGHAI: Rising star Alexander Zverev brushed aside Australia’s new teenaged number one Alex de Minaur 6-1, 6-4 to reach the Shanghai Masters quarter-finals on Thursday.
The 21-year-old German fourth seed was ruthless as he took the first set in just 29 minutes although his 19-year-old opponent showed more fight in the second.
Zverev has been suffering from a cold but ratcheted up the pressure to grab the all-important break of serve in the ninth game before closing out the match against De Minaur, who earlier this week replaced Nick Kyrgios as Australia’s top-ranked player.
Zverev will face 11th seed Kyle Edmund in the last eight after the Briton defeated Chile’s Nicolas Jarry 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.