MELBOURNE: Alexander Zverev of Germany upset second seed Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday to get to the Australian Open semifinals. He won 6-1 6-3 6-7(2) 6-4 thanks to an incredible serving performance.
Throughout the three hours and five minutes of play, Zverev nailed 94 of 111 first serves. The German even shown exceptional composure to win the victory in the third set, when Alcaraz had a chance to rally from a 2-5 deficit.
Alexander Zverev of Germany upset second seed Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday to get to the Australian Open semifinals. He won 6-1 6-3 6-7(2) 6-4 thanks to an incredible serving performance.
Throughout the three hours and five minutes of play, Zverev nailed 94 of 111 first serves. The German even shown exceptional composure to win the victory in the third set, when Alcaraz had a chance to rally from a 2-5 deficit.
Zverev will need to be just as accurate against Russian Daniil Medvedev in his eighth Grand Slam semifinal match. Medvedev is his opponent in five of their last six encounters.
“Your mind begins racing, which isn’t always beneficial, but I’m glad I made it there in the end. In the fourth set, I managed to battle back rather successfully and held on.”
It was a devastating loss for Alcaraz, who has now dropped five games against this opponent.
“I’m sad with my level today, because I have been playing good tennis,” he stated. “But in general, I think I did a pretty good tournament.”
Zverev had to play for almost 14 hours on the court in order to advance to the quarterfinals, but Alcaraz, 20, was the clear favorite going into the match on Wednesday after dominating the draw.
However, Zverev surprised everyone by coming out strong and winning the first set with just two service errors.
He now has a day to patch himself up for his second Australian Open semi-final, having been beaten by Dominic Thiem at the same stage four years ago.
“I have a lot of blood under my toenails,” he said. “But I would rather feel the pain and be in the semis than be at home watching on TV. I’m ready to go again.”
