Madrid (AP) – Olympic tennis champion Alexander Zverev has reached the semifinals of the Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid.
The 25-year-old defending champion beat Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 7-5 on Friday evening. After 1:55 hours, Zverev converted his first match point. In Munich he had recently failed at the opening hurdle, now the Hamburger showed improving form again.
Zverev now meets Stefanos Tsitsipas at the clay court event in the Spanish capital. The Greek won against the Russian Andrei Rublev 6:3, 2:6, 6:4.
Rafael Nadal missed the semifinals. The Grand Slam record winner from Spain lost the quarter-final duel against his 18-year-old compatriot Carlos Alcaraz 2: 6, 6: 1, 3: 6. The Serbian Novak Djokovic Djokovic had previously prevailed against the Pole Hubert Hurkacz 6: 3, 6: 4.
At the start of the season this year, Nadal made his comeback after a serious foot injury with the Australian Open and a total of 21 degree Slam titles as the record winner. After that he had taken a break due to a stress fracture in a rib.