Alexander Zverev is getting better and better at the Australian Open. The 28-year-old tennis professional made it to the quarter-finals at the Australian Open in Melbourne quite easily. After the match, expert Boris Becker went into raptures.
He opened the match with an ace and 213 km/h and then won it confidently: With his strongest performance to date, Alexander Zverev confidently moved into the quarter-finals at the Australian Open after a playing time of just 2:11 hours.
However, last year’s finalist decided not to declare war on the competition. “I will keep my mouth closed,” said Zverev after his strong 6:2, 6:4, 6:4 against Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo. “To be in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam, you have to play good tennis, but I don’t want to ruin it,” Zverev avoided clear words in a conversation with Andrea Petkovic: “I hope that I can play even better in the next three games.”
After the impressive performance against Cerundolo, he would have had reason to be more bold. For the first time in this year’s tournament, the world number three remained without losing a set and is now in the round of the last eight at the first Grand Slam tournament of the tennis season for the fifth time.
Zverev with a mini-period of weakness without consequences
Even Germany’s tennis legend Boris Becker, who reached the quarter-finals four times on the Yarra River, had not achieved this in his career – but won the title in 1991 and 1996.
Zverev is still a long way away from that, but the Hamburg native is in good form. After he had always had a weak phase in the previous rounds and lost one set each, this time he made it clear that he had progressed in three sets. “The form was excellent today,” said Becker as a Eurosport expert. “We didn’t expect this clear victory. He was clearly the better man in terms of play and also mentally,” said Becker: “It can continue like this.”
Zverev showed a highly concentrated performance against Cerundolo from the first to the last rally. After just half an hour, the 28-year-old took the first set, silencing the Argentine fans who were trying to rally their compatriot to victory with loud chants in the John Cain Arena.
But the South American annex didn’t have much reason to be happy. Zverev also acted with impressive dominance in the second round. The German number one managed another quick break and Zverev had the game firmly under control.
The record against Cerundolo before the round of 16 in Melbourne was negative. Zverev lost all of the first three duels – but each on the clay court that Cerundolo loved. On the hard court in the John Cain Arena, however, the Argentine never found a way to counter Zverev’s powerful game.
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Only towards the end of the second set did Zverev allow himself a small phase of lack of concentration. Cerundolo shortened the score from 2:5 to 4:5, but Zverev used his third set point with an ace and set the course for progress.
In the third round, Zverev, who had lost in the final in three sets against the Italian Jannik Sinner the previous year, found his old self-confidence again. He made the decisive break to make it 4:3, Cerundolo now stopped so that Zverev was no longer in trouble.
Spectator suffers fainting spell at Alcaraz match
In the fight for the semi-finals, Zverev will somewhat surprisingly face US talent Learner Tien on Tuesday. This won against Daniil Medvedev. In three sets (6:4, 6:0, 6:3), the 20-year-old eliminated the Russian in the round of 16, meaning Zverev was spared a duel with a fearful opponent
Before him, world number one Carlos Alcaraz had already made it to the quarter-finals. The 22-year-old Spaniard beat the American Tommy Paul 7:6 (8:6), 6:4, 7:5 – and is therefore still without losing a set in Melbourne this year. Alcaraz, who has never made it past the quarterfinals at the first Grand Slam tournament of the tennis season, needed 2:44 hours for his success. “I’m very happy with my level. I think it was a game at a very high level,” said Alcaraz. The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tournament that the Spaniard has not won so far.
The game in the Rod Laver Arena had to be interrupted for almost a quarter of an hour in the tiebreak of the first set because an elderly woman in the stands suffered a faint attack. The woman was able to leave the arena accompanied by paramedics.
LaGa with dpa
