Alexander Zverev stages great escape to reach Australian Open semi-final

Alexander Zverev staged a dramatic great escape to reach the semi-finals of the 2025 Australian Open with a 7-6(1), 7-6(0), 2-6, 6-1 victory over Tommy Paul on Tuesday. The World No.2 saved a set point in each of the first two sets and denied Paul's attempt to serve out both.

They traded breaks from 5-5 in the opening set as Zverev saved a set point at 6-5 down. He then raced through the tie-break. The American broke early in set two but was pegged by back three forehand errors and was broken to love at 5-4. Zverev then saved a set point at 4-5 and won 11 consecutive points to steal the set. He claimed a lovehold from there at 5-6 with a 7-0 tie-break victory.

Zverev won the final set 6-1 but it was far from comfortable as the German had to stave off final break points but he was pretty emphatic in getting over the line after Paul had used al the resistance he had.

"To be honest, I should have been down two sets to love," Zverev said in his on-court interview. "He played better than me. I was not playing great and I thought he was. I somehow won the first set, somehow won the second set, and I'm up two sets to love all of a sudden and I need only one more set.

"The fourth set was definitely the best that I've played and I'm obviously extremely happy to be back in the semi-finals now."

Next up will be the winner of Alcaraz and Djokovic and he lauded the duo. "Two of the best players that probably ever touched a tennis racquet," Zverev added. "Novak is the greatest of all time right now. Carlos is going to be one of them when he hangs it up, so it's a clash of generations. They have played Grand Slam finals before. They played the Olympic final last year, so it's a privilege to to witness it here in Australia... I think it's it's going to be a great match."