Alexander Zverev beat Flavio Cobolli 6-4 7-6 (8-6) after 1 hour and 41 minutes to reach the semifinal at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle. Zverev won 81% of his first serve points in a re-match of this year’s third round clash at Roland Garros.
Zverev had to rush from a toilet break due to illness at 1-0 40-40 in the first set.
“I felt fine before the match, and then out of nowhere I felt really, really bad and felt ill. I went to throw up, and then 15 minutes later I felt okay again. So I don’t know what it was. I’ve never experienced that before, to be honest. Hopefully I will be fine the next couple of hours, when the adrenalin settles. After that, I think it was a pretty good match”, said Zverev.
Zverev earned his only break in the opening game of the first set. The German player saved all six break points by rallying from 0-40 down in both the second and fourth games of the match.
Both players went on serve in the first four games of the second set. Cobolli saved two break points in the fifth game to hold serve for 3-2. Cobolli went up 15-30 at 4-3 but Zverev held serve in the eighth game to draw level to 4-4. Zverev rallied from 0-30 down to hold serve in the 12th game for 6-6. Zverev earned a mini-break to take a 3-1 lead. Cobolli pulled back on serve to draw level to 3-3. Zverev fired a big first serve on his second match point to set up a semifinal clash against Danil Medvedev, who beat Alex Michelsen 6-4 6-3 in 1 hour and 25 minutes to reach his third ATP Tour semifinal in 2025.
Michelsen saved eight of the ten break points he faced but she dropped serve twice.
Michelsen fended off two break points in the second game of the opening set. Both players stayed neck and neck in the next games. Medvedev earned his first break at 15 in the 10th game to win the first set 6-4.
Medvedev earned a break in the fourth game of the second set. Michelsen served to stay in the match at 2-5 and saved four match points. Medvedev served for the win at 5-3 and earned three more match points and converted his seventh chance with a service winner.
“I think it’s the guy I played the most in my career, so I’m looking forward to it .A lot of things happened in the past 18 months. Definitely he’s one of the toughest opponents in my career. It’s going to be a great match and I’m really looking forward to facing him”, said Medvedev.
