On May 8, in the Madrid final, Carlos Alcaraz beat Alexander Zverev (6-3, 6-1), he exhausted it very late in the night. The German chose his moment well for revenge. In a seething Philippe Chatrier, he eliminated the Spanish 19-year-old prodigy 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7) in the quarter-finals. Already in the last four matches of last year (he was defeated by Stefanos Tsitsipas), he will challenge the winner of the Djokovic-Nadal match in the first half.
Alcaraz got a break point in the second half but a nice forehand kick wiped it out. And he was the one who hacked the number 2 all over the place, chaining a non-forced bug and a service attack sequence that was full of adventure. He was annoyed by Zverev’s serve and impressive ball length. We felt nervous and unsure about tennis. He even made 16 unintentional fouls in 43 minutes, an unusual total for him. Despite the few gunshots I could feel, it was Zverev who imposed the most consistency. The German finished the round with two backhand attacks (6-4).
Serves Alexander Zverev. (En. Luttiau/Team)
metronome zverev
The second set was almost a carbon copy of the first. At 2-1, Alcaraz had his first break opportunity there but a completely revised comeback canceled it. At 3-3, two new errors occurred and a superb counter consumption of Zverev put him against the wall, at 15-40. A bad serve sequence cost him his serve.
Very stable, and Zverev firmly held the reins of the game. The Spaniard had a breakout opportunity at 5-4 but made another foul on a backhand. Apparently nervous, annoyed by his own estimations, he rushed over too much and doubled down on fatal errors (16 non-forced errors, just like in the first chapter). Powered by his services (80% of the first serve in the second set!), Zverev took the opportunity to break 6-4, 6-4, after 1h29.
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Alexander Zverev defeated Carlos Alcaraz this Tuesday, with his first Top 10 win in a Grand Slam tournament.
Fantastic fourth round
More than hesitant, the third set was decided in the last two games. At 4-4, 30-40, Alcaraz nearly cashed a match point by slipping a massive shot. A tactic he repeated throughout the last game. Despite his desperate running forward, Zverev was unable to raise the ball, which smashed just behind the net.
The culmination of a very intense match, the fourth set soared in size to a hair-raising tie-breaker. We thought the German was shocked to lose his serve when he had served at 5-4. But his determination and commitment to the strikes ultimately made the difference. At 6-5, Alcaraz missed a set point with a backhand foul. At 8-7, Zverev unleashed a powerful backhand kick to end this 3:18 struggle.
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