Alexander Zverev grinded out a 1-6 7-6(5) 7-6(1) 6-3 victory over Borna Coric to reach his second consecutive grand slam semi-final.
Despite a poor start, the fifth seed managed to be the mentally stronger as he sealed a four set win in over four sets.
The match wasn’t a classic as Coric produced the most errors in crucial moments to let the contest slip away.
Zverev will now play Pablo Carreno Busta or Denis Shapovalov in his first US Open semi-final.
Heading into the match, Coric had a 3-1 head-to-head lead on Zverev including a 2017 win at the US Open and it was easy to see why in the early stages.
The Croatian’s consistent power and accuracy proving too much for the German, who hit a catalogue of unforced errors in the opening set.
Three double faults early on also didn’t help as he lacked intensity and aggression in the opening set.
Two breaks of serve was enough for Coric as he took the opening set 6-1 in 24 minutes.
Despite the slow start, Zverev was determined to find his game eventually and started to find his rhythm on serve with regular 130+MPH serves.
A slight misjudgement from the umpire got the German angry as he felt he should of won a point.
Despite some aces straight after the incident, Coric used his power and aggressive return positioning to force the momentum back into his hands for another break.
Although it seemed the Croatian was confident enough to seize the opportunity and head into a two sets to love lead, Zverev had other ideas as he started to make more returns.
A forehand passing shot secured the break back as Coric began to make some questionable decisions in terms of tactics.
Even though Zverev’s return game was improving, a tiebreak would decide the fate of the second set.
An early advantage for Coric disappeared quickly and so did his accuracy as this cagey match produced some unforced errors from the Croatian’s racket.
The Australian Open semi-finalist took advantage and wrapped up the tiebreak 7-5 to level the match.
Coric’s errors and Zverev’s ability to finish off the rallies continued at the start of the third set as he sealed the break for a 2-1 lead.
However this match was edgy, nervy and lacked consistent quality, that showed in Zverev’s next service games as two double faults and a smash that nearly hit the back wall handed the Croatian an easy return game.
The German continued to voice his frustrations to the umpire over Coric’s gamesmanship after going off the court to change his shirt regularly.
This didn’t effect him on the court though as he showed clutch serving to save two break points and hold for 3-3.
After that neither play offered any variety of solutions on return as the third set went to a tiebreak.
Once again Coric felt the pressure of the situation as more errors saw Zverev rise to the occasion.
Six of seven points saw Zverev enter a two sets to one lead and looked the more mentally controlled out of the two players.
The fourth set really summed up what was a cagey grand slam quarter-final, Coric had three break points in the fifth game but was passive and cautious.
Zverev survived and took his opportunities when it mattered most as a forehand down-the-line clinched the all important break in the eighth game.
On third match point, Zverev’s strong serve was too hot for the Croatian to handle as he clinched his place in a second consecutive grand slam semi-final after 3 hours and 29 minutes.
It was not a classic, in-fact at times it was quite ugly and cagey but Zverev mentally controlled the match more to reach his first US Open semi-final.
“It’s obviously a great accomplishment, but I don’t want to stop there,” Zverev said on-court after the match as he looks to win his first grand slam title.
He will now be the favourite to reach his first grand slam final when he plays Pablo Carreno Busta or Denis Shapovalov in the final four.
