Dream shattered after 2-0 lead Zverev loses thriller and misses Australian Open final
January 26, 2024, 2:06 p.m
Nothing happens again with the first Grand Slam title for Alexander Zverev: In a thriller, the German tennis professional loses to the Russian Daniil Medvedev after leading the set 2-0. After more than four hours, Zverev missed the final of the Australian Open.
Alexander Zverev threw his towels into the audience in shock and trotted into the catacombs with his head hanging: the dream of his first Grand Slam title has dramatically shattered for the Hamburg native. The Olympic tennis champion gave up a clear lead in the semi-finals of the Australian Open and bitterly missed his first final in Melbourne. After a nervous thriller that lasted over four hours, the 26-year-old lost to his feared opponent Daniil Medvedev 7:5, 6:3, 6:7 (4:7), 6:7 (5:7), 3:6 and suffered one of the most painful defeats his career.
“At the beginning I was a little lost, but in the third set I said to myself, I at least want to be proud of myself. And I won and I’m very proud now,” said Medvedev, who converted his first match point after 4:18 hours : “The two tiebreaks were incredible. I was a bit lucky there too.”
The Russian will face the Italian Jannik Sinner on Sunday, who had previously eliminated series champion Novak Djokovic. Zverev, on the other hand, missed out on becoming the third German to reach the men’s singles final in Melbourne after Boris Becker (1991, 1996) and Rainer Schüttler (2003) – Becker last won the title 28 years ago.
Zverev has now lost six of the last seven duels against the Russian world number three Medvedev. Zverev wanted to reach a Grand Slam final at the US Open for the second time since 2020, when he lost to Austrian Dominic Thiem in five sets – also after leading 2-0.
Zverev breaks down, Medvedev turns the game around
As with his outstanding four-set win over Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals, he also found his way into the game well against Medvedev. In the decisive phase of the first set, Zverev kept his nerve during long rallies and secured the first round after around an hour of play to the thunderous applause of the spectators.
The Hamburg player remained focused afterwards and Medvedev acted surprisingly far behind the baseline. Zverev took advantage of this, often came to the net and broke the Russian to make it 3-2 in the second set.
From the third set onwards, Medvedev appeared transformed. Zverev held up well against the Russian, who was now much more consistent, but he kept his calm in the crucial moments. Towards the end the German made more and more mistakes and showed nerves. Medvedev managed the important break in the fifth set – and Zverev could no longer fight back and left the court dejected as a loser.
2024-01-26 13:15:50
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