Carlos Alcaraz (20) surprisingly ends up in the quarterfinals at this year’s Australian Open. One of the biggest favorites for the overall triumph lost 1:6, 3:6, 7:6, 4:6 to Alexander Zverev (26), who equaled his best in Melbourne Park. For the second Grand Slam final, the German will play against former US Open champion and two-time finalist of the opening Grand Slam of the season Daniil Medvedev (27), who survived a five-set battle with Hubert Hurkacz (26).
Zverev – Alcaraz 6:1, 6:3, 6:7, 6:4
Alexander Zverev returned last season after a six-month break caused by a nasty ankle injury he picked up at the French Open, and understandably it took him a few months to regain his form and confidence. In the end, he could evaluate the last season as successful, in Hamburg and Chengdu he ended the long wait for further titles, climbed back into the TOP 10 ranking and qualified for the Tournament of Champions.
The former second player in the world has always had weaker mental resistance, especially at the Grand Slams, which was confirmed by his 2:14 record against TOP 10 players at the big four events before the quarter-final match with Carlos Alcaraz at the ongoing Australian Open (he could only beat Alcaraz at the French Open 2022 and Jannik Sinner at last year’s US Open). He even lost all 10 previous duels at the majors with representatives of the TOP 5.
Match statistics. (@livesport)
He improved his statistics at least a little in the hit with the Spanish super talent. At first it didn’t look like an exciting match at all, Zverev absolutely dominated until the state of 6:1, 6:3, 5:2 against the erring Alcaraz. However, as soon as the moment came when the match was supposed to end, nerves appeared. The best German tennis player did not handle the situation at all and unnecessarily let his opponent back into the match.
He showed another failure in the tie-break. In a shortened game, he built up a 2:0 lead, and due to poor choice of shots and unprepared transitions to the net, he lost the lead. This fired Alcaraz up and he won seven points in a row to force another set.
In it, he lost his serve at the start, but in the next game he took advantage of Zverev’s stumbling and leveled the scores. Until the score was 4:4, the Spaniard had momentum on his side, but then he had a series of four unsuccessful fifteens and lost serve for the seventh time. Zverev did not hesitate this time and took advantage of the first match point on his own serve thanks to a great serve.
“I played with one of the best players in the world. He was number one or two in the last two years and won two Grand Slams. When you have a lead like that, you start thinking, which is not good… I’m very happy that I was able to take the match to a winning the end,” Zverev said in an on-court interview.
First career Grand Slam Top Five win for Alexander Zverev @AustralianOpen #AusOpen
pic.twitter.com/h1lf5VQAxs
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) January 24, 2024
Zverev will play in his seventh career Grand Slam semifinal on Friday. In it, he did not meet anyone from the TOP 5 ranking only at the US Open 2020, and just four years ago in New York, he made it to the finals, when he defeated the then world number 27, Pablo Carreň. He certainly remembered the final match with Dominic Thiem, as it is the only time in his career that he did not lead 2-0 in sets.
He will challenge his unpopular rival and 2021-22 finalist Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals. He already played 18 matches with the Russian tennis player with a record of 7:11. Surprisingly, they will meet for the first time at Grand Slam tournaments.
Alcaraz sensationally won Wimbledon last year when he defeated Novak Djokovic in a five-set battle. But the Spanish youngster, who completed quarter-final appearances at all four majors in Melbourne, has been in the finals only once since then and is still waiting for another triumph. He could dethrone Djokovic from the tennis throne in Melbourne, but after his defeat today, he will spend at least 412 weeks as world number one. Even on the seventh attempt, he failed to turn the 0:2 into sets.
Hurkacz – Medvedev 6:7, 6:2, 3:6, 7:5, 4:6
Daniil Medvedev threw away a luxurious lead against Rafael Nadal in the 2022 Australian Open final and struggled mightily for the rest of the season. He broke the year-long crisis only after being eliminated in the third round of last year’s opening Grand Slam of the season, winning four trophies on popular hard surfaces. He even celebrated his first career triumph on clay courts at the May Masters in Rome.
But since then, he is still waiting for another title, although he reached the finals at the US Open, Beijing and Vienna. He decided to start this season only in Melbourne Park and did not lose a set in only one match. In addition, he had to deal with a two-set deficit against outsider Emil Ruusuvuori in the second round.
Match statistics. (@livesport)
However, he confirmed the role of the favorite for the fifth time and after the scalp of his colleague from the TOP 10 ranking Hubert Hurkacz, he improved his excellent success rate in the quarterfinals of Grand Slam events to 8:1. Specifically, at the Australian Open, he also managed his third quarter-final duel and can still think about his third final in this venue. He fought his way into it in 2021 and did not play a set with Novak Djokovic in it.
The fight with the best Polish tennis player, with whom he lost the last two meetings and leveled the mutual balance at 3:3, got really complicated. He could have ended the match much earlier if he had not lost the lead 4:2 in the fourth act. In the end, the set didn’t even lead to a tie-break, and after more than three hours, it was time for the deciding set. In that Medvedev won Tilden’s game and this time he did not let go of the lead. He was happy about the victory, even though he lost eight points less in the exciting duel.
“I’m absolutely devastated,” Medvedev said in an interview on the court. “Already at the end of the second set I felt physically exhausted. In the fourth set I couldn’t concentrate and then I thought to myself that I will just try to play my best. If I lose, I lose and go home. Nothing happens” he added.
Hurkacz played only his second Grand Slam quarterfinal. He fought his way to the only previous one at Wimbledon 2021, where he eliminated Medvedev in the round of 16 and Roger Federer in the quarterfinals, who then played his last career match. These are his only two TOP 10 scalps at Grand Slams, he lost eight out of ten fights against such high-ranked players at the Big Four events.
Former US Open champion Medvedev, who thwarted Novak Djokovic’s assault on the calendar Grand Slam in New York in 2021, advanced to at least the semifinals in seven of the last 10 hard Grand Slams and reaffirmed that he is behind only the Serbian among active players in majors played on concrete record holder.
The semi-final composition of the upper half of the spider has been known since Tuesday. With 10 triumphs, the tournament’s most successful player and defending champion Novak Djokovic will face Jannik Sinner on Friday, who will be fighting for his first major final.
Australian Open men’s singles results
The article was originally published for Livesport News.
2024-01-24 15:45:00
#Alcaraz #finished #Zverev #quarterfinals #German #face #rival #Medvedev #final
