Published 2024-01-24 15.19
share-arrowDela
unsaveSpara
The ghost of Melbourne continues for Carlos Alcaraz.
The world number two crashed out of the year’s first Grand Slam tournament after losing to Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals.
– It has been a difficult time in my career, says Zverev after the win.
Carlos Alcaraz has stormed the world of tennis, and already at the age of 20, the Spaniard has won two Grand Slams. Including Wimbledon during last year’s season.
But in Australia it has been more difficult.
Before this year’s Australian Open, Carlos Alcaraz had never gone further than the third round of the tournament.
And this year, at first, it went all the better. Until the quarter-finals, the Spaniard had only lost one set.
expand-left
helskärmCarlos Alcaraz. Photo: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake / AP
Be out of luck
There, however, it was all the more difficult.
The world number two had a tough time right from the start. The 20-year-old fell in the first set after winning just one clip.
And in the second, Zverev continued to press, winning 6–3.
Splattered to
In the third, when Alcaraz hung against the rope, the game also got better.
The Spaniard needed to break Zverev’s serve to stay in the match, and did just that.
Alcaraz took the third set to a tiebreak, where he too would eventually step up and win in impressive fashion.
– It is so strong. He is completely calculated, but if he gets a small chance from Zverev, he is there and picks the whole hand, says Discovery’s expert commentator Jonas Björkman.
Chasing first Grand Slam title
However, in the fourth set, the German would finally end it all, and won the match with the final scores 6–1, 6–3, 6–7, 6–4.
– It has been a difficult time in my career. After the injuries, I had to start over from square one, but I’m happy to be back at the top and challenge for titles again, says Zverev in Discovery.
With that, Zverev advances to his second Australian Open semi-finals in his career. Russian Daniil Medvedev is waiting there.
The German has never before won a Grand Slam.
