US Open: Alexander Zverev ready for Djokovic after a show of power
Alexander Zverev is in the semi-finals of the US Open and meets tour dominator Novak Djokovic , who followed convincingly.
by SID
last edit: Sep 09, 2021, 10:29 am
Alexander Zverev made his semi-finals perfect with a cracking ace and then immediately thought of Novak Djokovic. "I hope his match lasts four and a half hours, he crawls on the pitch and I can move into the final at the end," said the German number one about the possible encounter with the tour dominator and world number one, who had to follow suit on the night of German times - and did just that.
Clever, strong-nerved and with irrepressible power, Zverev had previously presented and entered the round of the last four of the US Open with a show of power. The 24-year-old tennis top player from Hamburg won the quarter-finals against South African Lloyd Harris 7: 6 (8: 6), 6: 3, 6: 4 on Wednesday evening in German time after initial problems and was allowed to follow up for around a month Olympic gold continues to hope for his first Grand Slam triumph.
Zverev before Djokovic duel: "highlight of the tournament"
The previous year's finalist also took his last hurdle before the "dream duel" with Djokovic, who won all three previous majors of the year in Melbourne, Paris and Wimbledon and in New York as the first professional since Rod Laver in 1969 to win the Calendar Grand Slam want to complete. The 34-year-old Serb solved his difficult quarter-final against Matteo Berrettini brilliantly, freed himself from the initial pressure of his opponent in the new edition of the Wimbledon final and sat 5: 7, 6: 2, 6: 2, 6: 3 in 3: 26 hours through. Zverev could watch the match relaxed.
"I'm looking forward to the semi-finals, it will be a highlight of the tournament," he said at Eurosport. He "somehow" pulled the first sentence against Harris to his side: "After that I loosened up." With the victory he made a statement: If you want to win the tournament, you have to beat me first. Including winning the gold medal in Tokyo and triumphing at the Masters in Cincinnati, the fourth in the world rankings has now won 16 matches in a row.
Zverev complains about the video screen
Harris had caused quite a stir before the duel with Zverev. And the first sentence was incredibly tight. "Harris plays well, Sascha clearly has problems. It's difficult to adjust to his own way," said Mischa Zverev at Eurosport. Again and again, the German top player was driven outwards by his opponent, gave up his serve and needed a re-break to reach the tiebreak. Zverev then fended off a set ball to win the passage himself.
There were discussions about the decisive rallies. Zverev repeatedly complained that the players were shown annoyingly on the large video screens. Not an easy situation for Harris, who threw a bottle on the hard court after losing the set and then had problems staying on it.
With a high rate on his powerful first serves, Zverev always put pressure on Harris and made it very clear that he has more plans in the tournament.
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