Alexander Zverev defeated Vit Kopriva at the Halle Open for his 121st win at ATP 500 level, the joint-most of any player.

In his first match since winning the French Open, Zverev prevailed 6-3 4-6 6-2 against Kopriva to start his grass-court campaign.

The first set was straightforward for Zverev, who broke ahead in Kopriva's first service game to take the lead in Germany.

Kopriva, however, fought back in the second as he saved three break points before converting one of his own in the 10th game to force a decider.

First seed Zverev avoided an upset, with the home favourite securing back-to-back breaks before getting over the line with his first match point.

"Of course, I’m very pleased and happy to play my first match as a grand slam champion in Germany, but I don’t think that affected me too much," Zverev said.

"It was really the change of surface, and my opponent was really good today. I thought he played a fantastic match, and he was hitting his groundstrokes incredibly well, serving unbelievably well.

"To be honest I’m very pleased with the win because I think it was a difficult match, a difficult opponent, and for the first grass-court match, it was not too bad."

Daniil Medvedev also made it through to the second round at the Halle Open as he defeated Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-3 6-4.

There were two upsets at Halle, with 2025 champion Alexander Bublik and Andrey Rublev knocked out in the opening round.

Bublik lost 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 to qualifier Mattia Bellucci, while Rublev was defeated 6-3 6-2 by Hubert Hurkacz in just an hour and nine minutes.

Zverev goes from strength to strength

After winning his maiden grand slam title earlier this month, Zverev was able to celebrate in front of his home crowd with a win over Kopriva.

The world number three has now equalled Rafael Nadal's record for most wins at ATP 500 events, since the series was created in 2009.

Zverev won 81% of his first-serve points (44/54) and fired in 16 aces to Kopriva's 12 in a strong performance to start his grass campaign.

Zverev will face compatriot Yannick Hanfmann, who beat Joao Fonseca, in the next round; Hanfmann claimed his 100th tour-level win in the first round, becoming the 25th German player to reach the milestone.