Alexander Zverev made his return to the ATP Tour at the China Open in Beijing.
The German has been out of form recently, failing to reach the fourth round of the US Open before losing his two singles matches at the Laver Cup.
Bouncing back in style at the China Open, Zverev eased into the second round with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego.
Zverev has been criticized for playing too ‘passively’ throughout 2025, with many fans and pundits arguing that adding more aggression to his game could pay dividends.
Reacting to his first-round win in Beijing, former British star Naomi Broady stated whether the world number three showed enough aggression.
Naomi Broady says Alexander Zverev played with ‘extra aggression’ in his Beijing opener
During commentary for Sky Sports, Broady responded when asked if we saw a ‘new’ Zverev in round one of the China Open.
“I don’t know, I don’t know if he’d even want us to say that, I think he’d sort of say the old [Alexander] Zverev was good enough,” she said.
“But it’s the smallest margin of change that will have the biggest impact on his game
“Even his ability to move his court position up tighter to that baseline to take the dropshot that was so successful for [Lorenzo] Sonego at the start of the match, away from him.
“But that was certainly the direction that we want to see him moving in, the extra aggression.”
Broady was impressed with Zverev, who made the necessary changes to dominate Sonego on Friday evening.
“I think Sonego knows that he’s just got to take that loss on the chin, because his opponent was simply too good today,” she said.
“Some performance from [Alexander] Zverev.
“Pushed him all the way to the end, he asked the question, but Zverev had all the answers.
“It’s one thing to say ‘This is what I need to do’, to have that honest conversation with yourself, but to go away and come back and put a performance in like that…”
The Brit proceeded to look at the numbers from Zverev’s first-round win, which highlighted just how well he played,
“My eyes go to the net points won for Zverev, 16 of 23; he’ll be chuffed to bits with that,” said Broady.
“Came out on top in more of the baseline exchanges as well, 28 to 20 for Zverev.
“Understandably, the first serve % dropped a little bit, but still incredibly high, 82% of first serves in.
| Player | Aces | Double faults | 1st Serve % | Win % on 1st Serve | Win % on 2nd Serve | Break points |
| Alexander Zverev | 4 | 0 | 82% | 78% | 67% | 3/4 |
| Lorenzo Sonego | 2 | 2 | 64% | 63% | 47% | 1/1 |
“Again, Sonego is not going to be too disappointed with his stats, had one break opportunity and took it, but Zverev broke three from four.
“Zero double faults, four aces, that is a clean sheet.”
Having performed as well as he did in round one, Zverev will be confident of making a deep run at the China Open.
Can he go all the way and win the title? Well, that’s a different question…
Alexander Zverev’s route to the China Open title
Next up for Zverev is a tricky test against the ever-entertaining Corentin Moutet.
The pair have met once before, in Stuttgart earlier this year, where Zverev secured the win in straight sets on the grass.
Should he advance past the Frenchman, things will soon get a lot tougher for the three-time major finalist.
Alexander Zverev’s projected route to the title (By ranking)
- 1R [WIN] vs Lorenzo Sonego
- 2R vs Corentin Moutet
- QF vs Daniil Medvedev (8)
- SF vs Lorenzo Musetti (4)
- F vs Jannik Sinner (1)
Zverev would likely take to the court as the favorite against Daniil Medvedev and Lorenzo Musetti, although that wouldn’t be the case if he were to play world number two Jannik Sinner in the final.
Although Zverev leads the head-to-head with Sinner 4-3, the momentum is firmly with the Italian, who has won their last two matches.
| Match | Winner | Loser | Score |
| 2025 Australian Open – F | Jannik Sinner | Alexander Zverev | 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 |
| 2024 Cincinnati Open – SF | Jannik Sinner | Alexander Zverev | 7-6, 5-7, 7-6 |
| 2023 US Open – 4R | Alexander Zverev | Jannik Sinner | 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 |
| 2022 Monte-Carlo Masters – QF | Alexander Zverev | Jannik Sinner | 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 |
| 2021 US Open – 4R | Alexander Zverev | Jannik Sinner | 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 |
| 2020 Cologne 2 – SF | Alexander Zverev | Jannik Sinner | 7-6, 6-3 |
| 2020 French Open – 4R | Jannik Sinner | Jannik Sinner | 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 |
Sinner is also a very different player now from the one who lost four times to Zverev between 2020 and 2023.
The 24-year-old has only suffered defeats to two players in 2025, Carlos Alcaraz (4) and Alexander Bublik (1).
Whether Zverev can add his name to that list remains to be seen, but it will certainly be something to look out for as the tournament progresses.
Sinner and Zverev will return to play their China Open second-round matches against Terence Atmane and Moutet this weekend.
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