Sensational Zverev beats Nadal on home soil at the Madrid Open

Alexander Zverev comfortably defeated Rafael Nadal at the Madrid Open booking a spot in the semifinal.

2018 Madrid Open champion Alexander Zverev pulled off the upset of Friday defeating Rafael Nadal in straight sets. The German played a fabulous match taking down Nadal in just over an hour and a half of play. He entered the match on the back foot as he found himself down 4-2 early.

He was out of rhythm early committing errors and double faults but once he settled down he went on a 4-0 run to close out the set with 6-4. He was especially clinical when he had break points converting both with 100 % efficiency.

His confidence skyrocketed after the opening set comeback win with his play in the 2nd set even better. Nadal was starting to show cracks and had to save an early break point which he did. Not long after that he cracked and lost his serve giving Zverev the 4-2 lead.

Zverev had a chance to run away with it at 4-2 having two BP's but Nadal was able to hold his serve. Zverev held his serve as well coming one game away from the upset. After he held his serve, Nadal faced a mammoth challenge of breaking Zverev when he served for the match.

He could not do it as Zverev was simply too good in that game and the match in general. He won over 80 % of his 1st serves and compared to Nadal's 62 % it proved key in this match. A stunning display from Zverev who moves on after defeating Nadal 6-4 6-4.