(Madrid) Quebecer Félix Auger-Aliassime surrendered to Germany’s Alexander Zverev during the quarter-finals of the Madrid Tennis Open on Friday.
Posted at 6:39 p.m.
Zverev, the second seed and defending tournament champion, prevailed 6-3, 7-5 in 1 hour and 55 minutes against Auger-Aliassime, the eighth seed.
Auger-Aliassime struggled on serve, especially in the first set, opening the door for Zverev. The latter broke his rival’s serve four times.
For his part, Zverev committed nine double faults, including eight in the second set, but he showed more consistency in the rallies.
Auger-Aliassime hung on as he finally broke his opponent’s serve to return to even serve midway through the second set, but Zverev was able to stifle his rival’s momentum. He closed the books on his third match point.
Photo ISABEL INFANTES, REUTERS
Alexander Zverev
Zverev thus scored a fifth victory in seven duels against Auger-Aliassime. The Quebecer had taken the measure of Zverev during their previous duel, earlier this year, at the ATP Cup in Australia.
In the semi-finals, Zverev will cross swords with the Greek and fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. The latter defeated sixth-ranked Russian Andrey Rublev 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
In the other part of the table, Novak Djokovic easily disposed of Hubert Hurkacz 6-3, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals.
Djokovic, who won the Madrid tournament three times, seemed in full control of his means on clay against Hurkacz, whose quality of shots was sorely lacking.
Djokovic took advantage of Hurkacz’s slow start to build a 3-0 lead, after the Pole was notably broken in his first game on serve.
Hurkacz was broken again in the second set after committing a series of unforced errors. The Serb then took full control of the game, which he sealed with his fourth match point.
Djokovic will meet Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals, who upset his compatriot Rafael Nadal 6-2, 1-6 and 6-3 on center court.
Nadal, who is 35 years old and has won 21 major career titles, faced Alcaraz, a tennis player aged only 19 who is considered to be his runner-up.