PARIS – No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev returned to the French Open semi-finals with a 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7) victory over Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday , ending the 19th of Spain. The exciting career of a child at Roland Garros.
Zverev, a 25-year-old German, also turned off Alcaraz’s exciting comeback in the quarter-finals. Zverev, defeated by Alcaraz in the final of the Madrid Open before the French Open, was the most consistent and convincing player for almost three sets. “I think letting him advance in the game and letting him have confidence would be a very difficult thing for me to come back to,” Zverev said.
But Alcaraz, on the verge of being quickly eliminated, did lift his game. As usual, it was a spectacle as it produced delicate throws, bold returns, reflex volleys and full-cut live winners that left the 6-foot 6-foot Zverev looking nostalgically at the ball marks on the clay court. red.
Alcaraz, like the first head of series Novak Djokovic, is half tennis player, half gymnast. And with a burst of brilliant, acrobatic tennis, Alcaraz, No. 6 seed, took the third set. With another increase at the end of the fourth set, he broke Zverev’s serve when he knew for the match with a 5-4. This duel on all tracks, at this stage, was very worthy of a tiebreaker, and both men produced excellence under duress, but also broke up.
Alcaraz had a 6-5 set in the tiebreaker and failed to transform it when he made an unforced error with the reverse at the top of the net. Zverev missed his own setback in his first point of the match during the tiebreaker.
It was now 7-7 and the chants of “Carlos, Carlos” were only increasing. But Zverev, with the crowd and the flow against him, took the lead, winning the next two points to close the game. He ended the victory with a bold winning setback on the line that Alcaraz, one of the fastest men in tennis, could not be close to achieving.
“It’s a hit I like, it’s true,” said Zverev, smiling during his post-match press conference, who began by raising both arms to succeed.
“I’ve done a lot in my career,” he said of the winner of his setback. “But I had to win the game myself, I felt like I was going to lose for a mile of country or I was going to hit a winner, and I hit a winner, which I’m very pleased with.”
Alcaraz, in full swing, has only played four Grand Slam tournaments.
“I leave the track, I leave the tournament with my head held high,” he said. “I fight to the last ball. I fought until the last second of the match, and I’m proud of that. “
But the format of the best of five sets is still another kind of challenge than the variety of the best of three sets that is played on the regular tour. At the moment, Alcaraz’s best results in the majors are the quarterfinals at the US Open last year and now in Paris.
“I didn’t start well, and at this level, the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam, you’re playing against the best players in the world, so you have to start the game better than I do today,” Alcaraz said. “I have to take the lesson. I mean, I have to get better for the next Grand Slam or the next few games. But I would say I’m not far from reaching a semifinal or being able to win a Grand Slam.”
Zverev, a Roland Garros semi-finalist last year, clearly felt that the odds were against him on Tuesday in view of Alcaraz’s recent results. Alcaraz had won the Barcelona and Madrid titles back to back on red clay and resumed filming at Roland Garros after saving a game point against his Spanish compatriot Albert Ramos-Viñolas in the second round.
“I knew I had to play my best tennis today absolutely from the start, and I’m glad I did,” Zverev said. “Obviously he kept coming back. He’s an amazing player. I told him on the net that he will win this tournament many times, not just once, and I just hope to be able to win it before he starts beating us all, and not we will have no chance “.
Zverev, despite his good performance (and an obvious relief) on Tuesday, is still a long way from winning his first individual Grand Slam title. In the semifinals, he will face the winner of Tuesday’s second match: a night session between Djokovic and fifth seed Rafael Nadal, who has won the French Open 13 times.
“From here it’s not really easier,” Zverev said, still delighted. “But I have said many times, I am no longer 20 or 21 years old; I am 25 years old. I’m at the stage where I want to win, I’m also at the stage where I’m supposed to win. “