Alexander Zverev advanced to his second semi-final at the Australian Open after overcoming Carlos Alcaraz in four sets, 6-1, 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-4, in over three hours of play.
The German started the match with a bang, dominating the opening two sets in which he gave only four games to the second-seeded Spaniard. World No. 6 Zverev led by a break in the third set as well and when he was serving for the match at 5-3, nobody thought that Alcaraz would get back into the match.
However, this is exactly what happened after the Spaniard broke at the last possible moment. It came down to a tiebreak in which the young talent won seven unanswered points from 2-0 down to take the match into the fourth set. The set started with exchanged breaks and Zverev waited for his moment after a difficult service game for 4-4. The Tokyo Olympic champion broke in the ninth and then made no mistake on his own serve to book a place in the last four of the tournament.
Zverev finished with seven aces and one double fault, hitting 85% first serve, winning 73% of first serve points and saving three of five break opportunities against Alcaraz. The German hit 11 winners less than the Spaniard, but also 20 unforced errors less than the world No. 2, whose defeat means Novak Djokovic will remain the leader of the rankings after the tournament. Zverev recorded his fifth win against Alcaraz from eight matches between them.
He is in his second semi-final in Melbourne since 2020, in which he will face Daniil Medvedev, who earlier today broke the resistance of Hubert Hurkacz in a tough five-set battle that lasted nearly four hours. Zverev and Medvedev have 18 matches between them, with the Russian leading 11-7 in head-to-head meetings.
In the other semi-final, reigning champion Djokovic takes on world number four Jannick Sinner. /BGNES
