The German tennis star Alexander Zverev, despite health problems, has moved into the semi-finals of the ATP tournament in Cincinnati for the third time in a row. The German number one beat the American Ben Shelton 6-2, 6-2 and is now dealing with the Spanish French Open Champion Carlos Alcaraz due to the fourth victory in the fourth duel with Shelton.
Zverev complained about dizziness and shortness of breath in the second movement, but ultimately benefited from 27 inexplicit mistakes of his listless opponent. “I’m not doing so well at the moment, but I have a day to recover”, Zverev said after the match: “I hope to be at 100 percent again.”
Only 76 minutes until victory
Zverev needed only 76 minutes for his victory, at 4: 1 in the second set Sheldon threw his racket away when I changed sides. Zverev, Champion from 2021 in Cincinnati, converted his second match ball and now has 24 hours to get fit again. “I am not sure what happened. I felt very good, but towards the end of the first sentence it became increasingly worse”, ” said the Hamburger, for which a heavy hurdle is now waiting.
However, Alcaraz had more trouble than expected at 6: 3, 4: 6, 7: 5 against the Russian Andrej Rublew. Most recently, Zverev and Alcaraz dueled at the ATP finals in November 2024, at that time Zverev left the pitch.
Zverev and Shelton, on the other hand, had also faced each other in Cincinnati last year. At that time, the two fought a competitive match over three sets. As in all subsequent duels with Shelton, Zverev kept the upper hand, now he made short process.