Zverev books third-round spot at Madrid Open 2025

Top seed Alexander Zverev made a fast start to his 2025 Madrid Open campaign on Friday in Spain, racing past local veteran Roberto Bautista Agut in straight sets to book his place in the third round.

The German was priced at a low $1.11 to win his opening match of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament across Tennis bookies, and did not disappoint.

He took just an hour and 10 minutes to dispatch the Spaniard 6-2, 6-2, firing down 10 aces and striking 31 winners while hitting just 24 unforced errors.

“It was a good match; I knew I had to focus against Roberto,” Zverev said after the victory.

“I knew that it was going to be a tough challenge, and I’m very happy with the win.

“This is my favourite centre court in the world; I only lost twice here in my entire life.

“I hope that stays the way it is throughout the next 10 days and that I can continue playing good tennis.

“As long as I do that, I’m happy.”

Zverev now leads the betting ($5) across top bookmakers to win the Madrid Open after Carlos Alcaraz – who was favourite on $3.20 – withdrew from the tournament ahead of his opening match due to injury.

The 28-year-old plays Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina next, but is not getting ahead of himself despite being a $1.44 favourite to win at BetOnline.

“I really try to focus on playing good tennis, that’s my main goal,” he said.

“I feel like I played good tennis in Munich, I feel like I played good tennis here in the first round, and that is my main focus.

“When you do that, I think the results will come by themselves.

“I just want to continue playing good, I just want to continue enjoying my time on the court as well, and the rest will take care of itself.”

Elsewhere in the Madrid Open on Friday, seeds Taylor Fritz, Casper Ruud and Ben Shelton all advanced to the third round.

Russia’s Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev also progressed without having to play, as Laslo Djere and Gael Monfils withdrew ahead of their matches.

No.8 seed Holger Rune was not so lucky, withdrawing from his opening clash against Flavio Cobolli after dropping the first set.

Seed Arthur Fils and Felix Aguer-Aliassime also lost, knocked out by Argentine’s Francisco Comesana and Juan Manuel Cerundolo.

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