ATP Cologne: semi-finals! Alexander Zverev continued after a small lap of honor
Alexander Zverev is in the semi-finals of the first of two ATP Tour 250 tournaments in Cologne. The German defeated Lloyd Harris from South Africa 6: 4, 3: 6 and 6: 0.
by SID
last edit:
Oct 16, 2020, 03:59 pm
Germany's top player Alexander Zverev has reached the semi-finals at the ATP tournament in Cologne. The 23-year-old from Hamburg, seeded number one, won in the quarter-finals against qualifiers of the same age, Lloyd Harris (South Africa) 6: 4, 3: 6, 6: 0 and will face Dennis Novak (Austria) or Alejandro Davidovich Fokina ( Spain).
In the first set, Zverev managed the break to 3: 2, this advantage was enough for him to win the set after 44 minutes. In the second round, Zverev started with a break to make it 1-0, after which he returned his own service game to zero.
In this phase the tournament favorite, whose first serve was no longer as reliable as at the beginning of the match, suffered a few lack of concentration. After another loss of service, Zverev had to give up the second round after 1:15 hours to compensate for the set.
In the decisive round, the world number seventh then remembered his qualities again, he played with significantly more bite and made the break to 2-0 in the second game. Zverev now had control of the match again, with his seventh ace he made it 3-0 in the third game.
Tommy Haas praises Alexander Zverev
Harris let the physiotherapist come onto the pitch, the thigh problems that had affected him in his second round match against Steve Johnson (USA) made themselves felt again. Against a battered opponent, Zverev had no more trouble, after 1:45 hours he converted his second match point.
Tommy Haas, former number two in the world, praised Zverev in an interview with WDR. "You must never forget what Sascha has already achieved in his younger years," said the 42-year-old, who was born in Hamburg like Zverev: "He's doing everything right 99 percent."
Perhaps, according to Haas, "he could sometimes play the forehand a little more aggressively, move closer to the net, but that's easy to say. We can be happy that we have such a top player in Germany."