中华时报英国讯（王北方 赵雪湄）11月18日（周三）， 2020ATP年终总决赛小组赛中（当天为东京1970组的第二轮小组循环赛），亚历山大·兹维列夫（中文绰号小紫薇）以6- 3,4 – 6,6 -3的比分战胜迭戈·施瓦茨曼（Diego Schwartzman）获得了小组赛的首场胜利，从而增加了其进入半决赛的砝码。
这位2018年的总决赛冠军，在周一的比赛中被直落两盘输给了梅德韦杰夫（Daniil Medvedev），截至目前的小组循环赛中拿到了一胜一负。接下来德国人将全力以赴，力争连续第三年进入半决赛。
兹维列夫在场上接受采访时说:“这比周一的比赛好多了。施瓦茨曼是一个很难对付的球员……很高兴我赢得了比赛。很开心给了自己一个力争进入半决赛的机会，我对周五的比赛跃跃欲试。” 施瓦茨曼在小组赛中两场全败失去了晋级机会。周五，他将在本赛季最后一场比赛中与梅德韦杰夫相遇。阿根廷人表示:“我很高兴今天与兹韦列夫打了一场好看的比赛。”
晚间的比赛在首轮均胜出的两位选手德约科维奇与梅德韦杰夫之间展开。仅耗时81分钟，梅德韦杰夫便以两个6 -3干脆利落地横扫了年终排名世界第一的德约科维奇（(Novak Djokovic)）。得胜后，梅德韦杰夫将球击向底线，然后漫不经心地接近球网，德约科维奇伸出手想要和他击掌，但俄罗斯人没有伸出手，没有举起双臂，甚至没有微笑。德约科维奇依然向年轻的对手表示了敬意。梅德韦杰夫在今年的蒙特卡洛大师赛和辛辛那提大师赛的交锋中都曾战胜了德约。95后的俄罗斯人势如破竹，已经率先锁定一个半决赛席位。
梅德韦杰夫赛后告诉记者：“我喜欢和诺瓦克比赛，因为他是网球历史上最伟大的冠军之一。我八岁的时候，就已经在电视上看他打大满贯。和他对决，我总有一种梦想成真的感觉“。
本周五的小组第三轮比赛，德约科维奇将迎战小兹维列夫，争夺小组第二，也是东京1970组另一个半决赛名额，胜者将与伦敦2020组的蒂姆在半决赛上狭路相逢。而小德虽然暂时落败于梅德韦杰夫，但表示当时的体力与状态一时都不太好，而对于接下来胜赛依然充满信心。
Alexander Zverev claimed his first win in Group Tokyo 1970 on Wednesday, as he overcame Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to boost his chances of semi-final qualification at the Nitto ATP Finals.
The 2018 champion landed 10 aces and saved six of nine break points to improve to 8-6 at The O2 in London. Zverev, who lost in straight sets to Daniil Medvedev on Monday, improved to 1-1 in round-robin play. The German is attempting to qualify for the semi-finals for the third straight year.
“It was much better than on Monday,” said Zverev in an on-court interview. “Diego is a very difficult player. He deserves to be here… There are no easy matches, but I am happy to get the win. I am happy to give myself a chance to go to the semi-finals and I am excited for Friday.”
Schwartzman falls to 0-2 in Group Tokyo 1970. The Argentine, who is making his debut at the season finale, will meet Medvedev in his final round-robin match on Friday.
“I’m happy because I almost did a good comeback,” said Schwartzman. “The match was going all his way quickly in the first set and second set. Then I found a way to win the second set and fight [in] the third… I think he deserved to win because he played better than me in important moments, but the serve was the difference today in the third set, not in the first.”
After Daniil Medvedev smacked a forehand winner on match point to take down the World No. 1, 6-3, 6-3 in just 81 minutes, he tapped a ball toward the backstop, and nonchalantly approached the net, where Novak Djokovic gave him a fist bump. The Russian didn’t pump his fists, raise his arms in the air or even smile. But Novak did, extending a warm salute to his young rival, who seemingly beat him at his own aggressive baseline game and has now prevailed against him in three of their past four ATP Head2Head encounters.
It was far from his best performance, but Nole, as he’s affectionately called in the Balkans, could still afford to smile because the Nitto ATP Finals is the only tournament of the year where you can lose and still win. The 17-time major champion still has his eyes on the prize: a record-tying sixth title overall and fifth at The O2.
The Serb was upbeat in the press conference, given the circumstances. But when a reporter noted that it seemed like he was breathing heavily at times during the match, he acknowledged that he went through a spell of 15 to 20 minutes during the match where he didn’t feel well.
