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ATP Masters Indian Wells: Alexander Zverev - Longed-for homecoming after a bitter end

Alexander Zverev gave a great chance of winning the next tournament in Indian Wells - and is now looking forward to a few days at home.

by SID
last edit: Oct 17, 2021, 06:46 pm

Alexander Zverev missed the chance for his next title in Indian Wells
© Getty Images
Alexander Zverev missed the chance for his next title in Indian Wells

Maybe Alexander Zverev was already thinking about Nikoloz Basilashvili, maybe even in the final. 5: 2 in the third set against Taylor Fritz - a clear thing. With two match points, Zverev was only missing a single point to win, and yet after almost two and a half hours it was time to travel home instead of the semifinals at the Masters in Indian Wells. Zverev (24) had missed a huge chance and was frustrated.

After the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who was supposedly the biggest opponent, had surprisingly failed at Basilashvili shortly before, the way seemed to be free for the Olympic champion. The end against the world number 39 was all the more painful, Zverev made no secret of it.

Audience frustration at Zverev

"I just want to go home, to be honest. The defeat hurts because I knew that after the defeat of Stefanos I was the favorite to win the tournament," said Zverev: "I was so close to winning, but I didn't keep the level consistently. "

On top of that, he was annoyed by the behavior of some spectators: "On the one hand, there were a few who always talked between the first and second serve and said not so nice things," said Zverev: "Then at some point I said, okay, third sentence "Tiebreaker, at least be respectful."

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In the decision set, Zverev set the course for victory early on, but missed the last point both at 5: 2 and 40:30 as well as at 5: 3 and his own serve. In the tie-break, Fritz (23) pulled away to 4-0 and finally brought his third match point to the goal.

Boris Becker (1987 and 1988) remains the only German winner at the elite tournament in the Californian desert. In the final on Monday night (CEST) the Georgian Basilashvili and the Briton Cameron Norrie face each other, the favorites like Zverev, Tsitsipas or US Open Champion Daniil Medvedev were already on their way home.

Zverev completes the collection of wins against the "Big Four."

With convincing performances, Zverev had made it into the quarter-finals of the hard court tournament for the first time. Among other things, he beat the three-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray and thus completed his collection of victories against the "Big Four". The major record champions Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic had already beaten Zverev.

Since his triumph in Tokyo he had won 20 of 21 matches, only in the semifinals of the US Open the world number one Djokovic managed to take revenge for his Olympic defeat. Almost 4,500 kilometers from New York, Zverev's triumphant advance came to an abrupt end.

At least one small consolation remains: Zverev had already qualified for the ATP Finals in Turin (November 14-21) through his third round entry. It is his fifth participation in a row in the final tournament, which he won in 2018.

Here the single tableau in Indian Wells

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by SID

Sunday
Oct 17, 2021, 06:55 pm
last edit: Oct 17, 2021, 06:46 pm