“Shame” – Zverev regrets losing Rio quarter-final to Comesana from a “winning position”
The world No 2 was up a break against Francisco Comesana in the Rio Open last-eight battle’s deciding set on Friday but couldn’t get the job done
Imago / Psnewz
Friday (February 22) brought Alexander Zverev‘s second failure in his debut South American clay court swing on the ATP tour as he fell to Argentinian Francisco Comesana (4-6, 6-3, 6-4) in the 2025 Rio Open quarter-finals. On a more disappointing note for the world No 2, he lost the match despite going up a break (1-4) in the deciding set.
The outcome follows a similar performance at the Argentina Open, where Zverev couldn’t overcome Francisco Cerundolo (3-6, 6-3, 6-2) in the last eight. However, while talking to the media on Friday, he suggested feeling better about his game in Rio than in Buenos Aires.
“Better level than Buenos Aires but unfortunate to finish the tournament like this,” Zverev said. “I still enjoyed my time in Rio and hope to come back. It’s one of the most beautiful 500s that I’ve ever played. Shame because I was in a winning position.”
The 27-year-old entered the ATP 500 tournament in the Brazilian capital as No 1 seed but couldn’t dominate his opponents. He needed two hours, five minutes to outperform world No 69 Yunchaokete Bu (7-6 (4), 6-4) in the first round and two hours, 29 minutes to down world No 103 Alexander Shevchenko (7-6 (1), 7-6 (6)) in the second.
