Alexander Zverev tumbled across the Paris hall floor laughing and waved to the audience: Germany’s tennis star has actually found a cure against his feared opponent Daniil Medvedev – and after winning an absolutely nerve-racking game, he is now calling on Jannik Sinner for the second time in seven days.
Germany’s tennis star defeated the Russian Medvedev 2:6, 6:3, 7:6 (7:5) in a wild quarter-final at the ATP Masters in the French capital and ended a series of five defeats against the former world number one.
Zverev: I just don’t like playing against Medvedev
“I played very stupidly tactically at the beginning,” said Zverev: “Then I changed a few things and the match turned around. I just don’t like playing against him, but I stayed brave.”
In the semi-finals on Saturday, Zverev will compete against the reigning Australian Open and Wimbledon champion Sinner, against whom he narrowly lost in the final in Vienna last Sunday.
In a new edition of the 2020 final – winner: Medvedev – Zverev was erratic in the first set, he barely managed any winning strokes on the slow court in the La Défense rugby arena – and gradually lost self-confidence. Already halfway through the round, the world number three sought help with his box and was visibly at a loss.
In the second set, Zverev was more in control, he immediately equalized an early break to make it 0-1, and then he pulled the action more and more on his side. Before the decisive round, Medvedev took a break to break Zverev’s rhythm – it failed, after losing serve to make it 1:2, he shouted completely wildly at his box, Medvedev’s wife then left her place.
Sinner reaches for number one
In the close final act of the match, Zverev fended off two match points, but then scored the decisive points and reached his 24th semi-final at a Masters.
The Italian Sinner gave fifth-seeded American Ben Shelton no chance at 6:3, 6:3 and celebrated his 24th victory on an indoor hard court in a row. If Sinner wins the 1000m tournament on the Seine, he will replace the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in the world rankings on Monday.
The other semi-final will be contested by Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime and Alexander Bublik from Kazakhstan. Both are still fighting for the last available ticket for the ATP Finals of the eight best professionals of the tennis year in Turin (November 9th to 16th), for which Sinner and Zverev have long since qualified.
