Zverev’s bad run continues with early exit in Italy

Alexander Zverev’s disappointing 2019 continued as he crashed out of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in the second round.

The world number five lost 7-5 7-5 to home favourite Matteo Berrettini, meaning his preparations for the French Open are far from ideal.

The German has only gone past the quarter-final stage at one tournament this year and is not in great shape ahead of the second grand slam of the season.

He was succinct in his assessment of his defeat against the world number 33, saying: “Environment was great. The match that I played was horrendous.”

Karen Khachanov, the 11th seed, progressed through to the last 16 after a promising result against Roberto Bautista Agut, winning 5-7 6-4 6-2.

David Goffin came from a set down to beat former French Open winner Stan Wawrinka in the first round.

The Swiss took the first set, but Goffin found his groove and posted a 4-6 6-0 6-2 win.

Marin Cilic also made it through to the second round with a convincing victory over Andrea Basso.

Cilic beat the Italian wild card entrant 6-1 7-5.

Nick Kyrgios earned an impressive three-set win over 12th seed Daniil Medvedev.

The Australian earned a 6-3 3-6 6-3 win and celebrated by hitting a ball out of the stadium and into the grounds.

Grigor Dimitrov was a first-round casualty, though, as he went down in three sets to Jan-Lennard Struff, losing 6-4 6-7 (5) 6-3.

There were also wins for Borna Coric, Nikoloz Basilashvili and Jeremy Chardy.