Etcheverry does not shrink against Zverev and equalizes the quarterfinal duel

Among the eight best tennis players at Roland Garros, they have played 84 Grand Slam quarterfinals. The Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry He is the only one who does not contribute any to that list and knocks on the door of the semifinals against the German Alexander Zverev. The match is already being played on the Philippe Chatrier center court and is televised on ESPN 2 and Star+.

In the third round of the Philippe Chatrier, where before the world number one and current champion, the Polish Iga Swiatek (1), beat the American Coco Gauff (6), the La Plata player by 6-4 and 6-2. the first time the German Zverev (27th) is measured, a former top 10 who He was a semifinalist at Roland Garros in the last two editions.

In a very even start, Etcheverry stood equal to Zverev and he did not suffer despite the fact that in the first game he faced the first break point of the match. He quickly understood that he had to get out of a game with a crossed backhand to get the German out of the back of the court with aggressive attacks, his comfort zone.

The dangerous thing for the player from La Plata was that Zverev, game by game, improved his performance: he went from a first service game with two double faults to a 40-0 lead to equalize the match 3-3. In the next, came the break that on two occasions had been denied to the German. With a wide ball, Etcheverry ceded a 40-15 advantage to his rival, who went up 4-3.

The break did not distract Tommy, who had his first two opportunities to keep the opponent’s serve. It was Sasha, on the other hand, who prevented him from completing them to confirm the break and go up to 5-3 on the scoreboard.

Etcheverry was not willing to let the first set end with him serving and that is why he played a great service game to ensure the game at nil. But, with sheer aggressiveness, Zverev won 6-4 after 52 minutes of play and took the La Plata player’s first set in Paris.

The 23-year-old Argentine started the second set with his second ace of the match, but the 26-year-old German responded with a service game at nil. To the variety of blows from the German, Tommy replied with a passing shot to lead a third game that had started 0-30 but in which he accumulated four points in a row to stay ahead 2-1.

The parity continued until the moment of the breaks: yes, Etcheverry got it on his third chance of the game. However, he could not take advantage of it – he committed his first double fault – due to the immediate recovery of Zverev, who left the game 4-3 in favor of the Argentine.

But the fifth and sixth consecutive double faults by Zverev -who alternated high moments with his service (he won 82% of the points with the first) and other low ones like this- opened the door for the La Plata player to head off in the second set. The break was followed by a triple set point that he was only able to close in his last chance to take the sleeve 6-3 in 39 minutes.

The third set began in an unbeatable way for the young Argentine: the break and confirmation -despite a complicated game that lasted eight minutes- to get 2-0 at the start.

But Zverev was patient; He waited for the Argentine’s mistake and added four consecutive games to turn the game around and be 4-2 with a break up in the third.

Etcheverry’s dream week in Paris

The Argentine, 23 years old and 1.96 meters tall, stars in the best performance of his career at Roland Garros, which has him ranked 49th in the ATP world ranking, and tries to extend his excellent moment in Paris against a class rival who lost in the semifinals in 2021 against the Greek Stéfanos Tsitsipas and in 2022 against the Spanish super champion Rafael Nadal, absent this year due to an injury that has plagued him since last February and endangers his successful career.

Etcheverry, finalist this year in the ATP of Santiago, Chile (lost to local Nicolás Jarry) and Houston, United States (lost to American Frances Tiafoe), seeks to overcome one more barrier against Zverev to settle in the semifinals, instance in which that would be the winner of the duel of the night session, between the Norwegian Casper Ruud (4) and the Dane Holger Rune (6), who eliminated the Argentine Francisco Cerúndolo (23) from the tournament.

The tennis player from La Plata became the great revelation of Roland Garros, since in his second participation (last year he lost in the initial round) by basting four consecutive wins against the British Jack Draper (55), the Australian Alex De Minaur (19), the Croatian Borna Coric (16) and the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka (33), all without having given up any set.

Etcheverry is not the only successful Argentine in the French Grand Slam, since Horacio Zeballos from Mar del Plata advanced with his Spanish teammate Marcel Granollers to the semifinals of the doubles draw.

Zeballos and Granollers defeated the world number one in straight sets, the Dutch Wesley Koolhof and the British Neal Skupski, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) after one hour and 33 minutes of play.

The man from Mar del Plata and the Catalan Granollers, who together have 7 titles on the circuit and two Grand Slam finals (US Open 2019 and Wimbledon 2021), will have Croatian Ivan Dodig and American Austin Krajicek as rivals in the semifinals, who defeated the Germans Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz by 7-6 (8-6), 5-7 and 6-4.

In the women’s draw, meanwhile, earlier the Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia (14) beat the Tunisian Ons Jabeur (7) 3-6, 7-6 (5) and 6-1 in two hours and 29 minutes of game to ensure their place in the semifinals with the aforementioned Swiatek, the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (2nd) and the Czech Karolina Muchova (43rd). In that instance, among the men, the expected duel between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic has already been confirmed.

The Parisian Grand Slam distributes prizes for 49,600,000 euros between its male and female teams.

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