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Germany’s Alexander Zverev in action during his round of 32 match against Czech Republic’s Vit Kopriva at the Halle Open at OWL Arena, Halle, Germany, on June 16, 2026. (Reuters)
Top seed and world number three Alexander Zverev battled past Czech qualifier Vit Kopriva in three sets to reach the second round at the Halle Open, while defending champion Alexander Bublik suffered a shock early exit on Tuesday.
Zverev, who claimed his first Grand Slam title at the French Open nine days ago, looked in control as he took the opening set comfortably on the Halle grass. But Kopriva, ranked 64th, hit back to level the match, winning a late break point and then claiming the second set to push the match to a decider.
“I’m very pleased and happy to play my first match as a Grand Slam champion in Germany but I don’t think that affected me too much,” Zverev told reporters after finishing off a 6-3 4-6 6-2 win.
“It was really the change of surface, and my opponent was really good today. I thought he played a fantastic match and he was hitting his groundstrokes incredibly well, serving unbelievably well.
‘PLEASED WITH THE WIN’
“To be honest I’m very pleased with the win because I think it was a difficult match, a difficult opponent, and for the first grass-court match, it was not too bad.”
Kopriva finished the second set with 14 winners, while Zverev had 11, before the German picked up his game and closed out a victory which set up an all-German second-round clash with Yannick Hanfmann who defeated rising Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca 6-2 6-2 in the first round.
Earlier, Italian qualifier Mattia Bellucci produced a clinical display to knock out Bublik 7-6(6) 6-1 in just 75 minutes. The world number 74 outplayed the seventh-seeded Kazakh, who won here in 2023 and 2025, on his preferred grass surface.
Bellucci will face Belgium’s Raphael Collignon for a place in the quarter-finals.
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