In the cool of Rod Laver Arena, Zverev came close to knocking out Alcaraz in less than two hours, when he led 6-1, 6-3, 5-2. On the wire, the twenty-year-old Spaniard created a wind of madness, with insane passing in the deciding game, to win the third round and get back into the game.
But Zverev did not lose control and was able to take control at the right time, at the end of the fourth set, by breaking to lead 5-4. This time, no miracle for Alcaraz, who finally lost in just over three hours.
Earlier in the Australian fortnight, Zverev had escaped extremely narrowly twice, in the super tie-break of the fifth set (in the second round and in the round of 16).
The poster for the first semi-final has been known since the day before: it will pit world No.1 Novak Djokovic against world No.4 Jannik Sinner.
