Australian Open 2025: Jacob Fearnley loses to Alexander Zverev in Melbourne

Twelve months earlier, Fearnley was still a university student in the United States and playing tournaments on the third-tier ITF World Tour.

While all eyes were on the stars at Melbourne Park, he was celebrating winning the M25 title in Luxembourg.

Now, after making one of the fastest advances into the world top 100 on the ATP Tour, Fearnley is on par with the best.

Due to the seismic shock, Fearnley became the seventh man to reach Melbourne’s last 16 in his first match.

Zverev is one of the greatest servers in the game and it was no surprise that Fearnley, despite being a speedy returner, could not initially get into his opponent’s service game.

There was little difference between the pair in a tight first set and Fearnley losing serve to Love in the sixth game was decisive.

A worrying sign was that towards the end of the set Fearnley was moving carelessly between points and seemed to have a problem with his lower back.

After Zverev regained the lead, Fearnley disappeared from the court for a medical time-out and returned more comfortably.

He was unable to take two break points in the second game and it looked like he was going to pay the price when Zverev took a 4-2 lead.

Staying unfazed is one of Scott’s biggest strengths and he responded right away with an aggressive returning game.

However, he was immediately broken again and Zverev confidently took a two-set lead.

A lapse in concentration on an awkward service game in the third set also proved costly.

While he held Zverev’s serve for the second time to level at 2–2, Fearnley could not maintain his level or focus and was broken for the lead in the next game, which Zverev would not relinquish.