French Open: Alexander Zverev beats ailing Kei Nishikori and is in the quarterfinals
Alexander Zverev has reached the quarter-finals of the French Open 2021. The German defeated a battered Kei Nishikori 6: 4, 6: 1 and ( you can read the match in the live ticker here ).
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Jun 06, 2021, 11:07 pm
Alexander Zverev had a lightning start in the first run. The world number six took Nishikori straight from his first service game and quickly moved away to 3-0. What followed was probably the worst phase of the German in this game: Nishikori managed the rebreak and a little later also the equalization - Zverev acted a little too harmlessly in this phase and paved the way for Nishikori back in set one.
This was then reasonably balanced, Zverev let little burn with his own serve. And was wide awake at the score of 5: 4, after a sensational point he earned a breakball, which the 24-year-old also knew how to use after an unforced mistake by Nishikori. This now clearly showed that he was physically not up to date. Especially the serves of the former top five man were noticeably slow.
Zverev with a feasible task
Zverev had relatively few problems walking through the second round. The German had finally warmed up and showed a very passable performance. And also benefited from a number of mistakes without the need of the Japanese. The native of Hamburg quickly pulled away with a double break, after a little more than an hour and ten minutes, Zverev was finally able to make set two 6: 1.
In the third set, too, Alexnader Zverev managed to clear things up early on: Once again, the German got the break in the first game, and after a strong return game, Zverev even increased to 3-0 a little later with a double break. For a few moments it looked as if Nishikori would make this passage a little more open - the Japanese managed a rebreak to 3: 1 and he had the ball to 3: 2. However, Zverev was able to thwart this, which should finally break Nishikori's resistance. With 6: 1, set three clearly went to the German.
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In the round of the last eight, Zverev will now meet the tournament's surprise man, the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who should have the upper hand against Federico Delbonis. All previous duels with the world number 56. went to Zverev.
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