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In the second round of the Australian Open<\/strong>, Denis Istomin<\/strong>, a Wild Card ranked #117, defeatead #2 Novak Djokovic<\/strong>, possibly one of the biggest upsets in the history of Grand Slams.<\/p>\n Andy Murray<\/strong>, #1 in the world, became then the real favorite to win his first Melbourne Slam, with the player who beat him in the Doha<\/strong>\u2019s final already out.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, Murray\u2019s first three rounds showed consistency, outlasting opponents without losing a single set. The Brit started his journey against Ilia Marchenko<\/strong>, then overcame youngster Andrey Rublev<\/strong>, then faced Sam Querrey<\/strong> in the third round #31 seed.<\/p>\n His 4th<\/sup> round match-up was set against an unseeded player, Mischa Zverev<\/strong>, the elder brother of rising star Sascha<\/strong> \u2013 who lost in a tight five-setter to Rafael Nadal<\/strong> in the third round. The German outlasted American #19 seed John Isner<\/strong> in the second round in a tremendous battle of aces and winners that ended 9-7 in the final set, with three of the previous four sets ending with a tiebreak.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to believe, though after the #2 seed, even the #1 seed fell under the spell of an unseeded player. Mischa Zverev managed to beat Andy Murray 75 57 62 64, securing a spot is his first ever Slam quarterfinal, where he is going to face Roger Federer<\/strong>, who outlasted Kei Nishikori<\/strong> in five sets. In three and a half hours, Murray and Zverev produced an amazing match, with the Brit hitting 71 winners, and the German hitting 52. Displaying a beautiful game, Zverev managed 118 net approaches during the match!<\/p>\n Mischa Zverev\u2019s previous best performance in a Slam was in 2008, at Wimbledon<\/strong>, which is not surprising, given grass perfectly suits his serve and volley game. He thus reached the quarterfinals in two Masters 1000, in Rome<\/strong> in 2009 \u2013 which is his only appearance in the main draw of the tournament \u2013 and last year, in Shanghai<\/strong>, where he scared Djokovic, losing a close three-setter after wasting some real opportunities.<\/p>\n After a promising junior career, where Zverev rose to #3 in the world, eventually reaching the semis at the Australian Open, he showed talent and capability with good results in the pro tour, too \u2013 aside from the quarterfinals in Rome, he won the doubles in Halle<\/strong> in 2008 and won two sets against #11 Tommy Robredo<\/strong> at the Australian Open in the same year \u2013 that pitched him into the Top 100 at the age of 20.<\/p>\n However, bad and chronic injuries stopped his run into the top, and between 2012 and 2015 he was forced to play Challengers and Futures, far from the big stages of the ATP World Tour.<\/p>\n He eventually fell out of the top 1000, and he started to be considered as a former tennis player, and he seemed to be nothing more than a good sparring partner for real top players.<\/p>\n Not surrendering, actually, was the key of his success: 2016 was indeed a turning point for the German. Starting ranked #171, he won a Challenger title in Sarasota <\/strong>early in the season, but \u2013 what\u2019s more surprising! \u2013\u00a0 he reached the quarterfinals in Shanghai (as mentioned before) and upset Stan Wawrinka<\/strong> in Basel<\/strong> shortly thereafter, eventually ending the year ranked #51, near to his career-best of #45, reached eight years ago, in June 2009.<\/p>\n Clearly, all of his previous achievements fade away compared to what he did just now. Zverev’s\u00a0tennis is delicious for serve and volley lovers, a pleasure to watch; his mental strength has shown to be good enough to upset the #1 in the world, and of course he is playing confident, aware that this is the best moment of his entire career, and that he owns some real chances to set his name among the best in the world. Is this enough, for him, to make a Slam semifinal \u2013 or even more?<\/p>\n As far as the women\u2019s draw is concerned, while Serena Williams<\/strong>, #2 seed, has been overcoming tough opponent such as Belinda Bencic<\/strong> and Lucia Safarova<\/strong> without dropping a single set, Angelique Kerber<\/strong> struggled to reach the 4th<\/sup> round. In the opening math, she wasted a match point in the second set against Lesia Tsurenko<\/strong> and ended up winning a tight three-setter. In the second round, she lost a set to fellow Carina Witthoeft<\/strong>, to whom she had never lost a set before. In 2015, Kerber had actually double bageled Witthoeft in Wimbledon.<\/p>\nKerber Thrashed by Coco<\/h2>\n