Alexander Zverev on Wednesday advanced to his fourth successive French Open semi-final with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 win over Australian 11th seed Alex de Minaur.
Fourth seed Zverev is to play Casper Ruud for a place in Sunday’s final after the Norwegian received a walkover following Novak Djokovic’s injury-enforced withdrawal.
Germany’s Zverev is on an 11-match winning streak after clinching the Rome title last month, but he has never reached the final at Roland Garros.
Photo: AFP
“I’m happy to be in another semi-final. Hopefully I can win one,” said Zverev, who defeated 14-time champion Rafael Nadal in the first round of this year’s tournament.
Zverev was defeated by Ruud in straight sets in the semi-finals of the French Open last year.
After needing five sets in each of his previous two rounds, Zverev polished off De Minaur inside three hours.
Photo: AFP
He saved a set point on his serve at 5-6 in the second set and then won a 39-shot rally to bring up one of his own in the tiebreak, which he sealed at the first opportunity.
“Everybody in the press keeps asking me what I do for recovery and the answer is very simple — you don’t recover after matches, you recover in the off-season,” Zverev said. “I have the mindset you have to work harder than everyone else to be the best player. I like to work to my absolute limit. If I do that then playing five sets all of a sudden is not that difficult.”
A serious ankle injury dashed Zverev’s hopes in his 2022 semi-final against Nadal as he was forced to retire.
The year before he lost at the same stage in five sets to Stefanos Tsitsipas.
De Minaur’s bid to make a first Grand Slam semi-final ended with an eighth defeat in 10 meetings with Zverev.
“I’m extremely proud of my efforts through the two weeks,” De Minaur said. “Even today I think I put up a hell of a fight in difficult conditions against a quality opponent.”
In the women’s singles, world No. 1 Iga Swiatek was to play Coco Gauff of the US in the semi-finals after press time last night.
The other semi was to be played between Italy’s Jasmine Paolini — who eliminated Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 — and Mirra Andreeva of Russia, who beat Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-4.
Taiwan’s hopes of a title ended in the semi-finals of the mixed doubles as Neal Skupski of Britain and Desirae Krawczyk of the US defeated Hsieh Su-wei and Poland’s Jan Zielinski 6-1, 6-7 (2/7), 10-4.
Additional reporting by staff writer and Reuters
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