Zverev

Paris, May 31 (EFE).- Alexander Zverev leaned on his experience, potent serve and strong baseline game to edge Spanish teenage sensation Carlos Alcaraz 6-4, ...

The win was a breakthrough for Zverev, who prior to Tuesday had been 0-11 against top-10 players in Grand Slam events. I told him at the net you’re going to win this tournament multiple times, not only once,” the German said. “I knew I had to play my absolute best tennis today from the very start on.

Alexander Zverev led by two sets to one and had a chance to clinch his quarter-final clash at Roland Garros with Carlos Alcaraz in the fourth-set tie-break.

“Yes, I have not beaten them in majors, but I feel like I was very close. They have been top of the game for the past 15, 20 years, and there is a big reason for that. I won big events like the Olympics, as well.” “At the end of the day, I'm not 20 or 21 years old anymore,” said Zverev. “I'm 25. “I think Carlos is one of the best players in the world right now. In the end I'm happy that I won in four sets and didn't have to go to a fifth set.”

The German world No.3 halted the impressive run of the teen prodigy in four scintillating sets to reach semis.

The world No.3 connecting with three piercing backhands down the line, the last one clinching a mammoth victory in his career. “He's one of the best players in the world right now, and beating him at Roland-Garros, Grand Slam, is very important for me. He looked and played like a man with a point to prove and gained revenge for a 6-3, 6-1 dismissal by Alcaraz in Madrid with some clinical and gutsy play.

Alexander Zverev appeared calm as a monk compared to the exuberance of his teenage opponent Carlos Alcaraz during...

"But I knew that I had to play my absolute best from the first point on. I think that was quite important how I came back in the game of 6-5. I had to stay calm throughout the whole match, even though I feel like I left chances in the third set behind, so I had to stay calm when I lost the third set.

Between the phenomenon of Carlos Alcaraz's teenage breakthrough, the attempts of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal to tread deeper into tennis' history book and ...

He struck two nervous unforced errors and Alcaraz pounced, closing off the return game with uncompromising aggression and a crosscourt backhand winner. Experience in these big moments, of which Zverev possesses a huge amount despite being unable to take the final step, counts for much. In the second set Alcaraz produced plenty of his usual spectacular moments but he simply could not find his level. With an exquisite return game, he extended the match after ending a long exchange with a brilliant forehand passing shot, then landing another delicate drop shot. He soaked up the Spaniard’s inside-out forehand with his own excellent backhand, which remarkably did not concede a single unforced error for two and a half sets. But a player rises to No 3 in the rankings for a reason.