Alexander Zverev played his cleanest match of AO 2026 so far on Friday night to beat Cameron Norrie and move into the fourth round at Melbourne Park for the seventh time in his career.
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But for one poor service game late in the second set, the world No.3 will overall be very pleased with his level to come through 7-5 4-6 6-3 6-1 against a dangerous and gritty opponent. The last two sets in particular at John Cain Arena were very comfortable for the German.
It means Zverev maintains his perfect record against Norrie – played seven, won seven at tour level – and incredibly has now finished on top in 35 of the past 36 matches he has played against left-handers.
Zverev’s match stats make for impressive reading, too. The three-time Grand Slam finalist hit 16 aces, kept his first serve percentage above 70 throughout and smacked 52 winners against 29 unforced errors.
The Australian Open 2025 runner-up will next hope to improve on his 2-3 head-to-head record against fourth-round opponent Francisco Cerundolo when he returns on Sunday looking for a route into the quarterfinals.
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“I was up for the task today,” Zverev said in a lively on-court interview with Austrian former pro Barbara Schett.
“Cameron, I thought, probably played the best match that we’ve ever played, just level-wise. Happy with the win and happy to move forward.
“I thought I was hitting my forehand quite big and quite well. That’s the shot that’s going to make me win or make me lose. If I’m hitting it that way and if I feel confident in that shot then it’s always very important.”
The 2021 Tokyo singles gold medallist then grabbed the mic and ran over to grill his coach and brother Mischa sitting courtside, before Schett explained to the fans that Zverev might have extra motivation to win his first major title in Australia over the next few days.
“We made a deal,” Schett revealed, before Zverev took over to finish the story.
“If I win the Australian Open we’re both cutting our hair,” Zverev suggested. “You decide my haircut and I decide yours. How’s that?”
If he continues to play to such a high level, those flowing golden locks might get the chop in a few days’ time.
Although it was Norrie who started the match the brighter of the two when he broke in the very first game, it was the German who played the more solid tennis when it mattered later in the set.
At 5-5, Norrie hit a backhand long to go break point down and couldn’t control a stretch volley off a strong Zverev forehand on break point. The British No.2 could do nothing to stop his opponent serving out the set to love.
At the same stage of the second set, it was the former US college star Norrie who sprung into life. With Zverev serving at 5-5 30-all, the world No.27 connected perfectly with a forehand return and when Zverev netted his own forehand on set point moments later, the match was level.
After having worked so hard to get back into the contest, Norrie couldn’t find his best tennis to keep Zverev under pressure.
The Briton played a loose service game when he missed two forehands from 15-30 to fall behind 2-1 in the third, and another wayward forehand and a double fault on set point when he was trailing 3-5 handed the third seed the set.
That passage seemed to take the wind out of Norrie’s sails, while Zverev was by now a picture of consistency and confidence.
When the German broke for the third time in five Norrie service games and then held to love to move ahead 3-0 in the fourth, the finish line was in sight.