Despite not finding his best form, Alexander Zverev played the better tennis at just the right moments and beat Alex de Minaur 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 to reach the semi-finals of Roland Garros where he will face Casper Ruud on Friday.
Although fourth seeded Zverev won in straight sets, De Minuar will surely rue his missed opportunities throughout the match – none more so than when he was 4-0 ahead in the second set tie-break with clear chances to level the contest. He also failed to take a set point when 6-5 ahead.
Zverev has come through two five-setters in the third and fourth rounds during this year’s tournament and has spent over eight hours on court. After the match he spoke about how he has managed to maintain his energy levels:
“Everybody in the press keeps asking me what I do for recovery and my answer is very simple – you don’t recover after matches, you recover in the off-season, and then tennis becomes easy. I have the mindset you have to work harder than everyone else to be the best player. The best players are all doing that. For me, I like to work to my absolute limit. If I do that then playing five sets all of a sudden is not that difficult. I’ve been doing that over many years now and I’m happy it’s paying off and happy to be in another semi-final. Hopefully I can win one!”
Both players broke serve early in the first set as neither was able to settle down. With the scores at 3-3, De Minaur faltered and gifted another break of serve with a double fault. Zverev fought back from 0-30 down to lead 5-3 and took the set shortly afterwards with a lovely cross court winner.
The second set went with serve until 2-2 when Zverev made his move to break but just as in the first set the Australian broke back to level up at three games all. Games went with serve until the breaker where the eleventh seed took a huge four-point lead. A sliced backhand hit the net cord in the rally which could have taken him to 5-0, but instead Zverev fought back to 5-5.
And then came the moment of the match where either player could have set point – a magnificent 39-shot rally which tested both player’s patience, dexterity, fitness, and skill. In spite of some wild forehand misses earlier on, Zverev played better when it mattered most and stole the tie-break seven points to five.
Zverev, who beat Rafael Nadal in the first round, once again broke serve at 2-2 in the third set but was in trouble when he tried to serve for the match at 5-4. He went 0-30 down courtesy of an unforced error followed by his fifth double fault. Winning the next two points got him back to 30-all but De Minaur carved up a breakback point – and took it with a beautiful backhand drop volley to send the crowd wild.
Their Mexican wave during the changeover carried on into the next game which distracted the Aussie. From 30-15 up he fell to 30-40 as Zverev brought up his first match point which he took following an unforced error from his opponent.
Having spoken before about his difficulties of playing with slow balls in the night session, Zverev knew he had to stay focussed during the key second set tie-break. After his win, he was asked about the 39-shot rally and how he managed to chase everything down, and he replied:
“I have a coach who’s my father who couldn’t care less how I feel on the practice court. Since I was three years old, it was run here, run there, run for four hours straight. He sometimes forgets I’m 2m tall and can hit a serve 230km an hour. He definitely taught me the Spanish way – running for everything and putting balls back in the court. I wish I would be more aggressive sometimes, but if I’m winning, I’m happy. I’m in the semi-finals and that’s all that matters.”
Next up for Zverev is Ruud where he will look to banish memories of last year’s semi-final where he lost in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-0. Although they have split their four matches, the Norwegian has had three days off and will surely start the fresher.
“[On Ruud], great player. Look, two finals in a row, third semifinal in a row, that speaks for itself,” said Zverev. “He’s one of the best players on this surface, for sure. I think I have to play my best tennis to have a chance.”
Zverev then went on to speak about how tennis has impacted his life.
“This sport has given me everything,” he continued. “It has given me the life that I have, it’s given me my first love, given me heartbreaks, the biggest joyful and painful moments. If I can give back in any way and give joy to the people watching. I hope I can continue to bring joy to people’s faces and as long as I do, I will keep on playing and that’s the most important thing.”
