Paris Masters: Alexander Zverev beats rival Stefanos Tsitsipas to face Holger Rune in the semi-finals.
Paris Masters: Alexander Zverev beats rival Stefanos Tsitsipas to face Holger Rune in the semi-finals.
Alexander Zverev defeated arch-rival Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters on Friday, while Holger Rune kept alive his hopes of reaching the ATP Tour finals with a win over Alex de Minaur.
Zverev prevailed 7-5, 6-4 over Tsitsipas and is in contention for his first title in Paris after losing to Daniil Medvedev in the 2020 championship.
World no. 3 Zverev, the top-ranked player in the draw, will face 2022 champion Holger after beating Denmark’s De Minaur 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 in Saturday’s semi-final.
The 16th meeting between the 27-year-old German and the 26-year-old Greek ended in a tight first set.
“At first he played me, but I found my rhythm from the baseline,” Zverev said on the court.
“When I got my chance, I used it in the first set.”
When Zverev broke late in the first period and early in the second set, he was comfortably on his way to a sixth victory over his ancient Greek rival. The defeat ended any chance of world No. 11 Tsitsipas reaching the ATP Finals later this year after winning the 2019 tournament.
Tsitsipas and Zverev started cautiously, both allowing early breaks in their first service games. But they soon found their range as it looked like they needed a first-set tiebreak to separate the two sets on the fast surface of Paris’ Bercy Arena.
But Tsitsipas finally earned the first break point of the match when he fought back to make it 5-5, the German securing the second with a double fault. The Greek saved two set points and claimed a break-back point of his own, but Zverev dug in to hold.
After being down 1-1 in the second set, Tsitsipas offered multiple break points and exposed his shoulder. In a game that lasted over 15 minutes, the opponent gained dominance.
Zverev, who advanced to the final of this year’s Paris French Open, won the championship and advanced to his second ATP 1000-level trophy of the season. “One of the best”
The former fourth and 13th needed just one break to start his match against De Minaur.
In the second set, the 25-year-old Australian started with groundstrokes and pulled off stunning victories on both wings. When Rune served at 4-5, he finally turned the second set into a thriller, giving De Minaur three set points.
The Australian’s first serve took him out of the decider and Rune took the lead in the fifth game, but De Minaur hit a backhand firsthand level.
For Rune, a huge tangled net cord on the line of the right side of the court gave him a 15-0 lead and he held on to a 6-5 advantage before integrating to win the match.
“Sasha (Zverev) and I had a great match in Paris and he won in five minutes. I beat him once, and the last time he beat me,” Rune said of his match against Zverev, which he won in the last 16 of this year’s French Open in a five-set clash.
“He is one of the best players this year, so we have to prepare well.”
This gives both Rooney and De Minaur the chance to progress to the final in Turin, which will take place in Turin from November 10-17.
France’s Hugo Humbert, who defeated world number two Carlos Alcaraz in the last 16, delighted the hosts by beating Australia’s Jordan Thompson 6-2, 7-6 (7/4).
The world no. 18 will face Russian Karen Khachanov in the second semi-final. He will be looking to reach her first Masters final and overtake Jo-Wilfred Tsonga to become the first French winner in Paris since 2008.
Khachanov, winner of the 2018 Paris Masters, beat last year’s runner-up, Grigor Dimitrov, 6:2, 6:3. He thus put an end to the hopes of the 33-year-old Bulgarian to reach Turin.
