Rafael Jodar had him under control in the first set – but then Alexander Zverev went into the semi-finals of the French Open thanks to his strength in tie-breaks and then with great class at 7:6 (7:3), 6:1, 6:3.
The game got off to a very bad start for Zverev. Jodar was serving and you could tell he was nervous at the start of the biggest game of his young career. He allowed two break points and had to go over the second serve both times, but Zverev didn’t take advantage of his chances. The result: Jodar gained self-confidence, then played freely and was the dominant player.
Zverev’s insane haul in tiebreaks in Paris
Zverev fell into old patterns in which he spent too much time far behind the baseline in crucial matches – so Jodar was able to let him run. The Spaniard broke to make it 4-2 and everything was going for him, he finally served to win the set – and then his arm suddenly shook. Jodar made inexplicable mistakes, Zverev managed the re-break and it went to the tie-break. The German number one won it 7:3, improving an incredible record: Zverev has now won 26 of 28 tie-breaks at the French Open.
Jodar then showed what he had shown so often in Paris – that he can deal with setbacks really well. The 19-year-old put Zverev under pressure, didn’t make the opening break, but confidently equalized to make it 1-1. But then Jodar collapsed and couldn’t find his way back into the match. Zverev came up trumps and gave the Spanish youngster no chance at all. After the first set lasted 65 minutes, the second round was over after just 36 minutes.
Zverev “under pressure”? There is no trace of that against Jodar
In the previous rounds, Jodar had turned around a set deficit of 1:2 and 0:2 and won spectacularly – but Zverev wasn’t the opponent. The 29-year-old played extremely confidently and was also at full strength due to the smooth performance so far in Paris. Zverev immediately took his opponent’s serve away; there was next to no indication that the semi-finals could take place on Friday without him.
Before the game, tennis legend John McEnroe said about Zverev on “TNT Sports”: “He will never be under as much pressure as he is now in his career.” The reason: The big favorites are out, only Zverev is left of the top players. If he doesn’t win this French Open, his first victory at a Grand Slam tournament would probably never happen, according to the American.
Zverev didn’t feel any of the great pressure. His arm was loose, his legs were fast and he was mentally really strong when something didn’t work. This was especially the case with one or two stop balls, which Jodar was able to easily counter. Instead of getting too angry like before, the focus was immediately on the next rally. And he won it almost every time.
Match point underlines Zverev’s great performance
Jodar fought for every ball, and again he didn’t let up in the face of the impending defeat – but Zverev was too strong, even in the few tricky moments such as the Spaniard’s break chance when the score was 4:3. He fended that off with a service winner, followed by an ace and a forehand cracker after a strong serve to make it 5:3. Shortly afterwards the game was over, Jodar gave Zverev the first match point with three slight errors and the world number three took advantage of it with an incredible forehand after 2:25 hours.
“I want to keep going, I want to stay in the tournament and I want to win the games. Today was a big test against a strong opponent. I’m in the semi-finals, I’m happy about that now, but it continues.”said Zverev on the Philippe Chartrier court in the winner’s interview. “I was too defensive in the first set and Rafael played excellently. Then he got a little nervous and luckily I took my chances. Now I have two days off, but it’s also important to keep the rhythm.”