Alexander Zverev led Germany into the semifinals of the United Cup after wins in the singles and in the mixed doubles.
Maria Sakkari beat Angelique Kerber 6-0 6-3 in 73 minutes in the women’s singles match to give Greece a 1-0 lead over Germany.
Sakkari earned her second career win over Kerber, who still leads 4-2 in their head-to-head matches. The Greek achieved both of her wins over Kerber on Australian soil.
Kerber dropped almost 60% of the points in her games and was broken five fimes.
Sakkari saved three of the four break points she faced. The Greek player raced out to a 5-0 lead in the first set with two breaks and sealed a bagel win with her third break when Kerber squandered game points in the sixth game.
Sakkari earned an early break in the second game to race out to a 3-0 lead, but Kerber broke back in the fifth game to close the gap to 2-3. Sakkari broke again in the sixth game to take a 4-2 lead and held serve at 15. Kerber saved two match points on serve in the eighth game and earned a break point at 3-5. Sakkari fended it off and converted the third match point.
Zverev beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 6-4 after 1 hour and 36 minutes. The German player beat his Greek opponent for the fifth time in 14 head-to-head matches.
Zverev saved two break points and converted two of his eight break points. The two-time ATP Finals champion started the match with three holds and converted the third break point to take a 4-3 lead and held after deuce with service winner with a service winner to take a 5-3 lead. Tsitsipas faced three set points, as he was serving to stay in the set. The Greek player saved them to hold serve. Zverev faced two break points, as he was serving for the set at 5-4.
Zverev saved them and sealed the set 6-4 with an ace on the set point after 49 minutes. The Hamburg native held serve at love in the eighth game with a drop shot winner to draw level to 4-4.
Tsitsipas faced three break points after a backhand error in the ninth game. Zverev converted his second chance with a forehand error to take a 5-4 lead. The German player earned three match points with a volley winner as he was serving for the win in the 10th game.
“A few days ago I was not sure if we would be in the quarter finals or not, I told the team I felt we deserved to be there. I had to come out aggressive because I I knew Stefanos is one of the best aggressive players, if not the best aggressive player in the game”, said Zverev.
Zverev converted his first chance with his serve to draw level to 1-1 to send the tie into the decisive mixed doubles match. Zverev and Laura Siegemund beat Maria Sakkari and Petros Tsitsipas 6-3 6-3 after 1 hour and 25 minutes.