Alexander Zverev dismisses Alex De Minaur in three sets to reach the semi-finals for the fourth year in a row

The German is the 11th player to achieve such a performance in the Open era, after Borg, Wilander, Lendl, Courier, Ferrero, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray and Thiem.

This time he didn’t need five sets. After two matches lasting more than four hours and in five rounds at Roland-Garros, Alexander Zverev completed his quarter in 2h59, Wednesday June 5, against Alex De Minaur (6-4, 7-6 [7-5], 6-4). For the second year in a row, he will meet Casper Ruud in the semi-finals. It is at this stage of the competition that he has failed in the last three editions of the tournament.

However, despite this victory in three sets, the fourth player in the world is far from displaying a level of play that could make him a title contender. Messy, the German multiplied the unforced errors (48, his highest total in this tournament), without however hitting the mark on his strong shots (two aces, 20 winning shots). “If I win, I’m happy”he quipped on the court after the match.

In a match with 73 points played in at least nine strokes, or more than a third of the rallies, Alexander Zverev missed a lot, but was able to tighten the game in important moments. Pushed to his limits during the second set, he saved a set point on his serve at 6-5, before scoring seven of the last eight points in the tie-break to win a poorly started decisive game, where he had lost the first four. The now four-time semi-finalist Porte d’Auteuil notably offered himself his set point at the end of an interminable exchange of 39 shots, where he did not crack.

Rafael Nadal’s scorer in the first round was surgical on a break point, both to convert his own (5/6) and to save those obtained by his opponent in the evening (five break points saved out of eight). An efficiency in accelerating at the opportune moment that he demonstrated by ending the match on the Australian’s serve, after trembling on his commitment and missing the opportunity to end the match at 5-3.

Opposite, Alex De Minaur lacked power to hamper the fourth player in the world, who had struggled against the attacks and incessant climbs of Tallon Griekspoor and Holger Rune during the two previous rounds. Always so fast in his movements, the Australian made far too many errors (53 unforced errors) to put his defensive game plan into action and offered himself almost no free points on his serve, passing only 48%. of his first balls. The match point finally sums up the entire match: an exchange of 20 shots concluded by a direct error from the 11th player in the world.

Having become a tournament specialist, Alexander Zverev qualified for his fourth consecutive semi-final at Roland Garros, but never managed to go further in three attempts. “I’m happy to be back in the semi-finals, I hope I can win one.”, he responded to the microphone of former tournament finalist Alex Corretja after his qualification. Last year, he was swept away by Casper Ruud (6-3, 6-4, 6-0), whom he will meet again on Friday with inevitably a spirit of revenge. After Rafael Nadal in the first round, Alexander Zverev once again has the opportunity to erase his bad memories on the Philippe-Chatrier court.