Publications
Partners
London - Teenage tennis starlet Alexander Zverev on Saturday became the last man through to the third round at Wimbledon after a marathon victory over Russian veteran Mikhail Youzhny.
Germany's Zverev, 19, the youngest player in the top 50, won 6-4, 3-6, 6-0, 4-6, 6-2 in three hours and 19 minutes on Court 8 in a match that was halted for a final time due to rain on Friday with Zverev 2-1 up in the final set.
Zverev, the 24th seed, last month became the youngest man to enter the top 30 since world number one Novak Djokovic back in 2006.
World number 28 Zverev faces Czech 10th seed Tomas Berdych in the round of 32.
"With Sascha I was playing some good battles," said Berdych, the 2010 Wimbledon runner-up.
"All of them went on the good side for me, but obviously he's a young kid and he's improving week by week.
"So it's not going to be easy at all. The fact that he's playing one of the first years on the grass, he's very talented and well experienced to know how to deal with that. So that's going be a big one."
Berdych has won all three of their previous encounters.
The 30-year-old said his battle plan was: "Just being ready, being focused, being able to stick with my plan, dictate the game. That's going to work."
Zverev is from a tennis family: his father, also called Alexander Zverev, played for the Soviet Union in the Davis Cup, while his older brother Mischa, 28, is the world number 152.
The German number two proved his ability on grass last month when he knocked Roger Federer out of the semi-finals at Halle before losing to compatriot Florian Mayer in the final.
He was the first teenager to beat Federer since Andy Murray did so 10 years ago.
On clay, the right-hander finished runner-up at Nice in May then reached the third round of the French Open in his fourth Grand Slam appearance.
