(Reuters) – A look at the records of South Africa’s Kevin Anderson and Germany’s Alexander Zverev before their first-round match at the U.S. Open on Monday:
KEVIN ANDERSON
Age: 34
ATP Ranking: 117 (Highest ranking: 5)
Seeding: Unseeded
Grand Slam titles: 0
ATP career titles: 6
2019 U.S. Open performance: Absent
Best U.S. Open performance: Runner-up (2017)
Anderson is slowly working his way back to full fitness after undergoing knee surgery earlier this year.
The South African defeated Kyle Edmund in his first competitive match in over six months in the first round of the Western and Southern Open before falling to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round.
Anderson reached the U.S. Open final in 2017 but has never managed to defeat Zverev, winning just three sets in five matches.
5-ALEXANDER ZVEREV
Age: 23
ATP Ranking: 7 (Highest ranking: 3)
Grand Slam titles: 0
2019 U.S. Open performance: Fourth-round
Best U.S. Open performance: Fourth-round (2019)
Zverev enters the U.S. Open in poor form after a second-round defeat by Andy Murray at the Western and Southern Open last week.
The German has struggled for consistency the past couple of seasons but will take confidence from his run to the Australian Open semi-final earlier this year — his best Grand Slam performance.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: Zverev leads Anderson 5-0
2018 Zverev def. Anderson 6-7 (3) 7-5 10-7 (Laver Cup, Indoor Hard)
2017 Zverev def. Anderson 7-5 6-4 (Rogers Cup, Outdoor Hard)
2017 Zverev def. Anderson 6-4 6-4 (Washington, Outdoor Hard)
2017 Zverev def. Anderson 6-4 4-6 6-4 (Rome, Outdoor Clay)
2015 Zverev def. Anderson 2-6 6-3 6-4 (Washington, Outdoor Hard)
(Reporting by Arvind Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
