Alexander Zverev won against Frenchman Quentin Halys at the Masters in Miami and is in the quarterfinals.
Zverev won 7:6 (7:4), 7:6 (7:1) and will now face Francisco Cerundolo from Argentina. Halys made life difficult for Zverev, who was number three, and fended off the first two match points against himself.
At the $9.4 million hard court tournament in Florida, Zverev used his third match point after 1:45 hours in the tiebreak and made it into the next round just before midnight.
The next semi-final will be against Sinner more likely
Previously, the second in the world rankings, the Italian Jannik Sinner, had also advanced one round. He won 7:5, 7:6 (7:4) against Alex Michelsen from the USA.
Sinner now has to deal with Frances Tiafoe. Zverev and Sinner could meet in the semi-finals, as they did recently in Indian Wells. In California, Sinner won the duel and took the title in the final.
Halys is an unpleasant opponent for Zverev
Halys was an unpleasant opponent for Zverev and hardly allowed him any break chances – he couldn’t use the few that the Hamburger got. It was only in the tiebreak of the first set that Zverev finally managed a mini-break.
Against number 111 in the tennis world rankings, Zverev was always able to rely on his serve in the crucial moments and thus free himself from unpleasant situations.
Halys also forced the tiebreak in the second round after fending off two match points when the score was 4:5. A double fault from Halys in the tiebreak gave Zverev the next mini-break and a 3-0 lead.
Zverev had previously defeated Marin Cilic in the 3rd round.
