Miami – Olympic tennis champion Alexander Zverev reached the quarter-finals of the Masters Tournament in Miami. The 24-year-old won his second qualifying match from Australia 6-4 6-4.

“Tanasi is a very aggressive player, so I tried to take that power off of him,” Zverev said. “I put pressure on him and I was aggressive and that was very good.”

In the next round, second seed Zverev will meet Norway’s Casper Ruud in the US$8.6 million hard court tournament. “Kasper is a great player and he’s playing very well at the moment,” Zverev said. “I’m ready for a tough battle.” His best result in Florida was a final three years ago. All other German tennis pros have already been disqualified.

For Zverev, the year has not yet gone well. The 24-year-old led Germany’s Davis Cup team to victory away from home in the qualifiers held in Brazil. In addition to his otherwise unsuccessful performance, he received a pending suspension after hitting the referee’s chair with his racquet at the tournament in Acapulco.