#1 Zverev has reached both of his Masters 1000 quarter-finals as a qualifier
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In his career so far, Zverev has reached two Masters 1000 quarter-finals and interestingly, both of them have come when he entered the tournament as a qualifier. The first instance came in the 2009 Rome Masters. After beating Spaniard Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo in the first round of qualifying, Zverev defeated former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final qualifying round to qualify for the main draw.
In the main draw, he began by defeating Tomas Berdych in three sets which was followed by another three-set victory over Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu. Both these wins came after Zverev lost the first set. In the third round, he stunned 8th seed Gilles Simon in straight sets to reach his first Masters 1000 quarter-final. He was eventually defeated by Roger Federer in straight sets.
The German’s second Masters 1000 quarter-final came a few months ago at the 2016 Shanghai Masters. In the first round of qualifying, Zverev defeated Russian Karen Khachanov before defeating Ryan Harrison in the final qualifying round to qualify for the main draw.
In the main draw, he defeated Chinese wildcard Zhang Ze in straight sets which was followed by a surprise victory over 12th seed Nick Kyrgios in straight sets. Zverev qualified for his second Masters 1000 quarter-finals by defeating Spaniard Marcel Granollers, again in straight sets.
In the quarter-finals, he was up against Novak Djokovic and gave the then World No. 1 a run for his money as he won the first set before the Serb held his nerve and won the next two sets to take the match.
