Stellar Alexander ZVEREV overcomes an out-of-sorts Carlos ALCARAZ at Australian Open

A clear victory for Alexander Zverev against an out-of-sorts Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open (6-1/6-3/6-7/6-4). The Spaniard, who arrived with five hours of play less than the German to the duel, seemed not to know the script. The player from Hamburg, on the other hand, was very solid with his serve and very deep with his shots.

It looked like he was going to close it out in three sets, but Carlitos showed grit and forced a fourth but Alcaraz wasn't at his best and Zverev sealed the deal. Thus, we have already defined the men's semifinals of the Australian Open: in the upper part of the draw Novak Djokovic vs. Jannik Sinner and in the bottom half, Alexander Zverev vs. Daniil Medvedev.

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ZVEREV'S SUPERB START

The match began with Alexander Zverev serving like a thousand wonders and taking his serves with extreme ease. Carlos Alcaraz, on the other hand, did not feel at all comfortable and proof of this is that he lost his first service game of the match in white;

Zverev again and again looked for his backhand to hurt the Spaniard and in an almost perfect first set he managed to break his opponent's serve twice and take the first set 6-1. It seems that the German had taken advantage of those extra hours on court to feel the Rod Laver Arena like it was his home.

At the beginning of the second set the dynamic changed little by little. Carlos was able to win for the first time two consecutive serves and was gradually gaining more confidence in the rest. With 3-2 up on the scoreboard, much more comfortable on court, Carlitos was aggressive and got his first two break points.

The first one was saved by Zverev thanks to a great serve. The second, after a long rally, was missed by Alcaraz himself sending a theoretically comfortable backhand into the net. The first two break chances he had had were gone. From his box he was encouraged to continue with the same dynamic.

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CARLOS SEEMS TO REACT, BUT IT IS FLEETING

Zverev made it 3-3 in the second set. Now the match was for real. Alcaraz after his bad start, had landed in Melbourne;

Now we were seeing two of the best players in the world playing power to power. Zverev kept pressing Carlitos' serve and making him points and again had a break opportunity in the next game that he did take advantage of. Despite the improvement of the Murcian, it was the German who had the duel under control. 4-3 and serve in the second.

The serve was making the difference. Zverev was getting many points thanks to his serve, while Alcaraz had to fight point to point to win. So it was complicated. Zverev, who had suffered a lot against opponents like Klein or Norrie, and who did not play comfortably against his compatriot Koepfer, was playing against Carlos Alcaraz, the world number 2, his most comfortable match of the Australian Open. 5-3. It remained to win the set for the Hamburg player.

In the rest, Zverev kept pressing and taking advantage of the mistakes of Carlitos that after being down 5-3 seemed to give up the set. The German closed it. 6-3 for him. The numbers gave no room for doubt: 4 out of 4 in break points for the German and 0 out of 2 for the Spaniard. A 90% of first serves for Zverez by a 63 for Alcaraz. A 100% of points won with the second serve for the Hamburg player against 39% for the player from Murcia.

THIRD SET.

In the beginning of the third set, the same dynamic with a Carlos who was gesturing worse and worse about his feelings on court. He was too tense. Sascha continued to serve with the same efficiency and put the 1-0 on the scoreboard.

Carlitos equalized the set to one after one of his best serves of the match. Alcaraz's first point of the match with Zverev's second serve in the whole duel. Two sets had to pass. That point was a mirage. The German won the next four points and equalized to one.

In the next game Zverev made it 15-40. Carlitos saved for the first time a break ball against in the game and managed to come back and put the 2-1 on the scoreboard. He came back, he had an advantage, but Zverev played perfectly with the score, he sent again deep balls to a desperate Carlos who saw how they broke his serve again. He was 3-1 on the scoreboard up a German player who was going straight for the win;

Carlos tried to pull pride in the next game, but had no answers to the imperial serve of a Zverev who was going straight for the win. 4-1 in a third set that seemed to have the same ending as the first two. Thus, Zverev served with 5-3 up to win the match and it was then when Alcaraz got the best of himself to break for the first time the serve of his rival and get 5-4 on the scoreboard with the serve to equalize at five;

Zverez became less aggressive, Alcaraz managed to win his serve after a brutal defense and the third set went to 5-5. Saved by the bell (for the moment) the Murcian. Zverev, despite the blow of not being able to close the match, continued serving the same and secured the tie break. With good serves Alcaraz won his serve and the third set would be decided in sudden death.

TIE BREAK.

Zverez started serving. Carlos served well and the rally was long. He tried to close the Murcian with an easy drop shot for him that missed. 1-0 Zverev. The German was a wall in the next point and got his first minibreak. Alcaraz won his serve later. 2-1 up the German and 2 serves for him.

Then Carlos managed to recover the minibreak. A lot of intensity in a set that could close the match. 2-2. Then, with an incredible passing, Carlitos recovered a ball that seemed lost and went 3-2 up. They went to the change of court 4-2 after a backhand by Alcaraz that made the German go to the floor;

Carlos was 5-2 after an open serve and a parallel forehand. And he got four set balls in his favor after another brutal passing with a parallel running forehand. Alcaraz closed the set 7-6. The match was still alive, almost a miracle as it was.

FOURTH SET.

After the great effort, almost a miracle, that Alcaraz had made in the third set to come back and win it, he lost his serve in the fourth. Zverez, undeterred, continued to play very solidly from the back of the court and it was Carlos who continued to fail;

Alcaraz didn't give up, he was very aggressive on Sascha's next serve and managed to break. The match had gone completely crazy. The Spanish player was 2-1 up in the fourth set playing a very solid game, moving his opponent from side to side and feeling a bit better on the Rod Laver Arena, the center court of the Australian Open;

Zverev pulled serve to equalize the 2-2 on the scoreboard. Despite going through his worst moment of the match, he did not fall down. Very solid. Carlitos did not fail either and got 3-2 on the scoreboard. He was serving better than ever, hurting the German's body. The match seemed to be on his side at that moment, but we should not forget that the German was two sets to one up and that he had no break against him in the set;

Both players won their respective serves with solvency and the match went to a new break with 4-3 up for Carlos Alcaraz. We lived then the best game of the match, with Alcaraz coming back from 40-0 down and with Zverev winning incredible points to end up holding his serve and putting the 4-4 on the scoreboard;

Zverev had raised the level of his game in the previous game and was 15-40 against a Alcaraz who again lost some confidence just when the 3 hours of the match were completed. Thus, the German was back to 5-4 and serve to win the match. Incredible, when it seemed that Carlos was at his best, the German broke and was ready to serve again to win the match. He did not fail this time and got into the semis, where he will face Daniil Medvedev.

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