Alexander Zverev is in the quarterfinals of the French Open. The 26-year-old is getting better and better in Paris.
Alexander Zverev happily threw a tennis ball into the Paris night sky and enjoyed the cheering of the fans: The Olympic champion’s journey back to the top of the world continues. With a largely convincing performance, Zverev also defeated the experienced Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and is in the quarterfinals of the French Open.
“It’s incredible for me to be back in the quarterfinals and I’m extremely happy,” said Zverev after the 6: 1, 6: 4, 6: 3 late Monday evening in Paris, where he had previously been after 2:17 hours converted first match point.
The 26-year-old is fighting in the top eight on Wednesday for his third semi-final in a row in Roland Garros. A year after the serious ankle injury, Zverev is getting better and better at his favorite tournament and is the favorite in the game against unseeded Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
Special praise from Boris Becker
Zverev, who had already convinced against Frances Tiafoe in the third round, found the game excellent: Even with long rallies, he acted confidently, hardly made any mistakes and consistently punished those of his opponent. Dimitrov had thrown Daniel Altmaier out of the tournament in the third round, but was initially unable to build on his strong performance.
Which was also due to Zverev, who acted extremely variably and scored twice as many points as his opponent in the first set. Consequently, the first round went to the Germans after just 31 minutes. “He has the length of the forehand shots and comes to the net at the right moment,” praised Boris Becker on the “Eurosport” microphone.
“Hopefully it will still go far for me,” Zverev said before the game – and he did his best in the second round to achieve this goal.
An initial phase of weakness, in which Dimitrov acted at world-class level and clawed a break for the first time, survived Zverev, who acted with nerves of steel in the days of Paris, unscathed. He bit back, grabbed 14 points in a row and finally used his fifth set ball to make it 2-0.
Zverev wide awake in the unloved night session
In the first three games of the tournament, the former US Open finalist showed a clear development after his long form crisis following the injury from last year’s Paris semifinals. He stumbled into the tournament rather unconvincingly, but recovered quickly and, in Tiafoe, finally beat a top 20 player for the first time this year.
In the third night session in a row, Zverev didn’t get tired afterwards either. The Laola wave rolled through the stadium on the atmospheric Philippe Chatrier court and Zverev continued surfing towards the quarter-finals. He showed grown-up clay court tennis and didn’t let the sometimes violent French wind upset him. Dimitrov sniffed a comeback a few more times, but Zverev could not be dissuaded from his path.