Zverev beats Atmane in Madrid, later complains of physical woes

German tennis player Alexander Zverev celebrates defeating France's Terence Atmane during their Men's singles Round of 32 match of the 2026 Mutua Madrid Open at La Caja Magica. Alberto Gardin/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Tennis star Alexander Zverev has advanced to the round of 16 at the Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid with some effort and nerves of steel.

The 29-year-old from Hamburg defeated the error-prone Terence Atmane, 24, of France 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) in 1 hour and 37 minutes on Monday.

In his next match on Tuesday, Zverev will face Czech player Jakub Menšík — provided the German is fit to play. After the match against Atmane, he complained of physical problems but declined to specify the issue.

He added that he had played a very good match until leading 6–3, 5–2 and said he would have to see what the problem was.

Atmane was only able to truly challenge the top German player towards the end of the second set. When Zverev was serving for the match, the underdog managed to break back to 4-5 and then held his own serve with a lot of drive.

The world number 74 suddenly flourished, and Zverev had to battle for a victory he had thought was already in the bag. After a brief dip in form, the world number three found the right answers and held his nerve in the tiebreak, while Atmane loudly berated himself over his mistakes.

Alongside Italian world number one Jannik Sinner, Zverev is the top title contender at the clay court tournament, which carries a prize fund of around $8.2 million. His chances have grown following the withdrawals of Spain's Carlos Alcaraz and Serbia's Novak Djokovic.

Zverev is the only remaining German tennis professional in the singles draws in Madrid. On the women's side, no German player remains in the tournament.