ATP Beijing: semi-finals! Alexander Zverev cracks Querrey
Alexander Zverev has reached the semi-finals of the ATP tournament in Beijing.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Oct 04, 2019, 03:12 pm
The sixth in the world rankings beat the American Sam Querrey 7: 6 (3), 6: 2 in the round of the last eight and is thus in the final round of the 500 tournament in China.
Zverev won his only duel with the hard hitter from the USA in 2017 as part of the Laver Cup, this time it was a scarce thing, especially in round one. Querrey did not allow much on his own serve, the only break ball for Zverev - synonymous with set ball - he fought off at 6: 5 for the German with a courageous action, Zverev's backhand pass ball got just under the net edge.
Until then, Zverev had to fend off a break chance, in the tie-break the decisive mini-break came to 4: 2, Zverev finally pulled away.
Set two also started with smooth service wins on both sides, Zverev finally made the decisive break to 4: 2. He finally had another followed to win the match.
Better relationship with Tsitsipas
"I played a great tie break, and of course it helped me with the double error," said Zverev after the match. The difference in the second sentence? "I broke him. I could barely read his serve, he hit 15 aces."
In the semi-finals on Saturday, the 22-year-old now meets the world ranking seventh Stefanos Tsitsipas, who beat John Isner 7: 6 (3), 6: 3. The relationship with Tsitsipas has so far been somewhat complicated, as Zverev revealed. "We got closer at the Laver Cup." In a direct comparison of the two, the Greek leads 2-1, most recently he won in Madrid in the spring. The match is scheduled from 3 p.m. CEST.
Previously (from 10.30 a.m.) Dominic Thiem and Karen Khachanov play on each other. Thiem had ended Andy Murray's comeback in a great match , but he also showed great tennis.