From the dream, once again: Alexander Zverev failed at the French Open in the quarterfinals on Novak Djokovic and also missed the desired Grand Slam triumph in the 37th attempt.
The Hamburg team lost to the 38 -year -old Serbs after a ultimately unexpectedly weak performance 6: 4, 3: 6, 2: 6, 4: 6, and for the first time in 2020 there was not in the round of Roland Garros.
“I wish Sascha all the best, they were not simple conditions,” said Djokovic at the micro at the square: “My age is not without. But such matches like today are the reason I continue to play.”
Djokovic meets hard Sinner
Djokovic, who converted his fifth match ball after 3:17 hours, is in the semi -finals for the 13th time in his 21st French Open. There, the Grand Slam record winner will meet the Italian world rankings Jannik Sinner on Friday, who impressively underlined his title ambitions in the 6: 1, 7: 5, 6: 0 against the Kazakh Alexander Budik.
In the second semi -final, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, alongside Sinner, face the big tournament favorite, and the Italian Lorenzo Musetti.
On a mild evening after a wet and cold day, Zverev was fully there from the start when the Court Philippe Chatrier was open. The 28-year-old immediately took the surcharge of his ten-year-old rival. The three-time Paris winner Djokovic then found better into the game, repeatedly indicated his fabulous skills, but Zverev pulled his game calmly and straightforward. After 46 minutes, the first set of sets of the Serbs was perfect in the current tournament.
Zverev initially starts strongly
Zverev had won only one of the previous four Grand Slam duels with Djokovic-in January in the Melbourne semi-finals when the Serb gave up after a lost first sentence. This time Djokovic continued and Zverev suddenly lost the line. He got involved in smaller disputes with chair referee Louise Azemar Engzell (Sweden), which cost him some sympathy of the audience, which was already hired. He played too passively and consistently collected the break to 1: 3.
Djokovic suddenly conjured up, whipped the audience and made the sentence compensation. Zverev threatened to slip the match. In the third round, he also collected the break to 2: 3, struggled, looked at a loss and desperately called up into his box. In this phase there was hardly anything left, Djokovic missed Zverev with all his cleverness hits.
At times, the German looked almost apathetic, only when Djokovic served to win the match was Zverev reared up again.