Zverev left delighted by first semi-final since injury return: "Hopefully it won’t be my last"

Alexander Zverev finally made his way to his maiden ATP semi-final following an ankle injury and he is really happy about it and looking forward to the match.

It will be a match against Rublev so it certainly not an easy task but he'll be relieved to know that Rublev never beat him before. The run in Dubai is his first major one following the injury and it comes after weeks of grinding on the court. It was a tough time which he admitted following the match:

“It’s been a very difficult time for me over, I would say, the last nine months. I haven’t played tennis at all for such a long period for the first time in my life. It definitely shows that the hard work is paying off and I’m extremely happy with my progress and how I’m playing right now.

There were times when Sonego threatened Zverev but he managed to wiggle out of most of those situations. Talking about that, the German said:

“In those moments, you’ve got to go back to the basics. You’ve got to play each point by itself, you’ve got to remember what you can control. That is always your serve, that’s the only shot in tennis you can control purely by yourself. It obviously helps that I hit five first-serves in a row and then the match was over.”

He concluded with:

“I’m happy to be in my first semi-final since the injury. Hopefully it won’t be my last and hopefully there’s much more to come here.”