Jacob Fearnley: Scot out of Australian Open after straight sets loss to second seed Alexander Zverev | Tennis news
Jacob Fearnley’s good debut at the Australian Open ended with a straight set loss to second seed Alexander Zverev in the third round.
The Scot continues to comfortably take the higher levels of the professional game in his stride and did not look out of place against one of the tournament favorites at the Margaret Court Arena.
But he was unable to sustain any sustained pressure on Zverev, who wrapped up a 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory in two hours and two minutes.
Fearnley hit slightly more winners, his forehand causing constant problems for Zverev, but there were also 34 unforced errors compared to just 15 for the German.
Regardless, it was a great week for Fearnley, who defeated Nick Kyrgios and the Australian crowd in the first round before going down to Arthur Cazaux in the second round.
Less than eight months into his professional tennis career, Fearnley will break into the world’s top 80 after the tournament and will surely go higher without ranking points until June.
The 23-year-old performed very well against Novak Djokovic on his Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon last year, taking a set from the Serb and almost forcing a decider.
Here he failed to make any breakthrough on Zverev’s serve in the first set, which was decided by one break in the sixth game.
The Scot then took a medical timeout off the court due to a problem that was not immediately apparent, but stepped up his aggression at the start of the second set.
He forced two break points in the second game but was unable to capitalize on either, and luck went against him at 3-3 when Zverev broke again after putting Fearnley in a difficult position with a shot wide of the net.
Fearnley wasn’t deterred, however, and hit back after retaking the initiative in a long baseline rally.
This caused the first part of emotions in the composed 23-year-old, who punched, and Zverev lost his serve for the first time in the tournament.
Zverev also faced the British player on the same court last year, finally getting the better of Fearnley’s former Texas Christian University teammate Cameron Norrie in a fifth-set tie-break.
But Fearnley’s hopes of pulling off something similar suffered a major blow when he was broken again, double-faulting at 15-30 and then hitting a volley.
It was Zverev’s release, and the pattern repeated early in the third set when Fearnley dropped serve, made a break back – prompting the German to grumble around his coaching box – only to lose serve once more.
Fearnley held his serve well after that, but Zverev avoided further alarms.
Afterwards, the second seed praised his opponent, saying: “I think he’s an amazing player, he’s been through all the stages. I have a lot of respect for him and the effort he’s put into the sport, and he’s going to get better and better I think over the next few years. “
Watch the ATP and WTA Tours, as well as the US Open in New York, live on Sky Sports in 2025 or stream with NOW and The Sky Sports appgiving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Find out more here.
