Quebecer Félix Auger-Aliassime had been dominant on clay in Madrid this week, but he found his man in the quarter-finals. The German Alexander Zverev had no difficulty getting rid of the 21-year-old tennis player, whom he defeated in two sets of 6-3 and 7-5 on Friday.
Zverev was heading for an easy second set when ‘FAA’ regained their composure as they trailed 4-1. He eventually broke his opponent’s serve to tie the game. The Quebecer had to save two match points on his serve to finally extend this round. On his third opportunity to finish, Zverev finally managed to dismiss Auger-Aliassime with a fourth break.
“I think it was my best game in the last few months, except maybe the end. I played good tennis for a set and a half and I hope I can continue this way,” explained the winner after the match, his remarks being taken up by the ATP website.
The tournament’s second seed had great success with serve winning 74% of rallies on her first serve and 56% on her second. Zverev, however, committed an abnormal number of double faults, nine.
“I couldn’t put a serve on the line,” he admitted. I had chances to go 5-1 in the second set and I think the game would have been folded. But I didn’t use his opportunities and he fought well. But I also fought, and that’s how I was able to win.
Before crossing the world’s third racket on his way, Auger-Aliassime had not lost a set in two games in Madrid, but had above all given only six small games to his opponents Cristian Garin and Jannik Sinner.
In the semi-finals, Zverev will face Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, who defeated Russia’s Andrey Rublev in straight sets earlier Friday.