Alexander Zverev threw the ball high towards the floodlights and enjoyed the cheers of the fans at Louis Armstrong Stadium. 50 minutes before midnight, the tennis Olympic champion at the US Open cheered with relief his entry into the round of 16. With great fighting spirit and superior fitness, the 26-year-old defeated Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrow late on Saturday evening (local time) in 3:42 hours 6: 7 (2: 7), 7: 6 (10: 8), 6: 1, 6: 1. After losing the first set, Zverev was already 2: 4 behind in the second round, but made the comeback.
“It was an incredibly high level, we killed each other in the first two sets,” said Zverev in the winner’s interview on the pitch. “I was lucky at the end of the second set. He also hit incredible balls. He was a bit tired and also a bit hurt.”
First Sinner, then Alcaraz?
At the Grand Slam tournament in New York, the 26-year-old from Hamburg now meets the Italian Jannik Sinner. The sixth in the world rankings prevailed in four sets against former US Open winner Stanislas Wawrinka from Switzerland. The path to the hoped-for second US Open final after 2020 is difficult: if Zverev were successful again, he could face a duel with the Spanish defending champion Carlos Alcaraz from Spain in the quarterfinals.
Zverev had won the last five duels with Dimitrow, this year at the French Open and at the US Open dress rehearsal in Cincinnati he even dominated the third in the world rankings. Now the twelfth in the world rankings was only able to demonstrate his superiority after two sets and almost two and a half hours – also because Dimitrov was visibly injured and had his knee treated.
Zverev started more aggressively than in the long weak performance in the German second round duel with Daniel Altmaier. He quickly took the serve from Dimitrov to make it 2-1 with a volley, but Zverev suffered the re-break directly due to slight mistakes of his own.
A game developed at the highest level. Towards the end of the first set, Dimitrov managed almost everything. Zverev often went to the net, but always looked after his opponent’s perfect passing balls.
Dimitrov countered strongly
The Hamburger seemed at a loss, he was warned in the tie-break because he needed more than the allowed 25 seconds to serve. The first five points went to Dimitrov, who a little later secured the opening sentence with a strong first serve. After 70 minutes, Zverev looked sober at his attachment with father and trainer Alexander Zverev senior and girlfriend Sophia Thomalla in the stands.
At first, however, the favorites still lacked the means to counter the Bulgarian’s counterattack. Zverev suffered another break, slipped once and was on the ground. He quickly got up again – which was also a symbol for the match. After a successful ball, he asked the audience to cheer, with the support of the fans in the second largest stadium at the US Open, Zverev came back into the game.
Another warning from the referee only spurred the former world number two on. In the tie-break, Zverev fended off two of his opponent’s set balls with strong serves, and with a placed return he won the second round. With his mouth wide open, Zverev roared his joy to his supporters in the first two rows on the sidelines.
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After two and a half hours, Dimitrov, who was six years older, could see the exertion, the number 19 in the world was breathing heavily between rallies. Zverev kept the pressure up and made two early breaks to make it 3-0. Dimitrov’s resistance was broken, after only 28 minutes Zverev won the third round.
Dimitrov had his left knee treated, went into the dressing room and came back jogging. Zverev remained unimpressed, played his game superiorly and was happy in the end.
