Alexander Zverev produced a stunning performance to knock out the second-seed Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals of the Australia Open on Wednesday. Germany’s Zverev earned his first Grand Slam victory against a Top 5 opponent by bringing down World No.2 Alcaraz 6-1, 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-4 to reach the semi-finals in Melbourne. It was the German’s second victory over Alcaraz in a row, having defeated the 20-year-old Spaniard at the Nitto ATP Finals in November, and he now leads the Lexus ATP Head2Head series 5-3. The manner of Zverev’s recent victory against the top-ranked player will provide him with a tremendous confidence boost who had not beaten a Top 5 opponent at a major in ten previous attempts.
The sixth-seeded Zverev will be playing his second semi-final at Melbourne Park and he will be up against Russian top-seed Daniil Medvedev to claim a spot in the Finals. Earlier, third-seed Medvedev battled past Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in five grueling sets to reach his third Australian Open semi-final. Zverev and Medvedev have played 18 times on the ATP Tour, with Medvedev leading his rival 11-7, but both will meet for the first time at a Grand Slam on January 26, Friday inside Rod Laver Arena.
Zverev made an impressive start against Alcaraz, winning the first set and conceding only two games on serve. The 26-year-old German continued his strong play in the second set, breaking Alcaraz’s serve twice as errors crept into the Spaniard’s game. Zverev’s opening two sets were almost flawless. He was serving at about 90% first serve and dominated every rally from the baseline and at the net.
Throughout the third set, Zverev maintained an extremely high level of play. However, he had a brief lapse in serving for the match, allowing Alcaraz to mount a spectacular comeback and force a tiebreak. Alcaraz came through in the third set, winning that tie-break from a ludicrous position, and the crowd believed they were going to witness a fifth set.
However, at 4-4 in the fourth set, Alcaraz played poorly, giving Zverev a break, and the German made no mistakes on his own serve. A truly courageous performance from Zverev to secure one of the best victories in his career.
Zverev would be hoping to deliver his 100 percent in the semis as he has only once been to a Grand Slam final when he lost to Dominic Thiem at the 2020 US Open championship match despite holding a 2-0 lead.
