Home wildcard comes up short in first ATP match at Astana Open

Ravi Ubha

Playing your first ATP match is always a big occasion. Things started well for home favorite Beibit Zhukayev before the more experienced and higher-ranked Botic van de Zandschulp beat the wildcard 6-1, 6-1 at the Astana Open.

The 21-year-old, who has climbed more than 300 spots this year to 327th in the Pepperstone ATP rankings, began Monday’s contest with an ace on Court 1. 

That may not have been a surprise, since the 6-foot-5 (196cm) native of Aktau on the west coast in Kazakhstan counts his serve as a strength. He tallied 21 aces in his previous match against Radu Albot in the quarterfinals of a Challenger in Istanbul.

But Zhukayev was broken from 30-0 in the opening game — on a double fault long — and had to escape from 0-30 in his next service game to avoid falling behind by two breaks.

Van de Zandschulp never relented. There were, however, several entertaining rallies, particularly in the seventh game.

Zhukayev, facing a first top-100 foe, stood on his heels after hitting a drop shot to begin the game. The Dutchman replied with a delicate forehand drop winner of his own.

The backhand down the line is another of Zhukayev’s strengths, he said on Sunday, and he immediately responded with one to level at 15-all.

Later in the game, van de Zandschulp authored the perfect drop, lob volley combination, forcing Zhukayev to scamper and swipe at a backhand as he ran towards the baseline.

The world No. 34 ended the point with a comfortable backhand volley. He also utilized his backhand slice effectively throughout. Zhukayev broke to start the second set after van de Zandschulp struck a double fault during the game.

He realistically needed to hold in the next game to bolster his comeback bid but was broken for 1-1. Overall, Zhukayev dropped serve in six of his seven service games. Van de Zandschulp officially collected his 37th victory in 2022 when Zhukayev’s backhand slice approach skimmed wide to cap an 18-shot rally.

Van de Zandschulp won 19 of 21 first-serve points while Zhukayev claimed less than half of his service points altogether. Evidencing the pace on his serve, though, one clocked in at 226 km/h (140 mph). It won’t be the lone battle between a Dutchman and Kazakhstani in the first round of the new ATP 500 event, since Alexander Bublik plays Tallon Griekspoor. Van de Zandschulp will meet 21-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic in round two if the Serb downs Cristian Garin.