Madrid, Zverev beats Tsitsipas in three sets. In the final he will face Alcaraz

It is one in the morning and all is well for Sascha Zverev. The victory against Stefanos Tsitsipas – 6-4 3-6 6-2 – brings the German to the final in Madrid: to defend the title won last year against Matteo Berrettini, the number 3 in the world will have to beat the man of the moment, Carlos Alcaraz. And to do so he will need to recover: the Spaniard took the field shortly after 16, Zverev seven hours later. On the fourth attempt, Sascha finds his first win on clay against Tsitsipas: he is one game away from winning his sixth Masters 1000 career and his first title in 2022.

I primi due set

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Zverev wins the game thanks to his serve (73% of firsts in the field, 83% of points with the first) and taking advantage of an extremely foul Tsitsipas: not only with the backhand – ridden by the German, who often tries to play on the diagonal and then change along the line, with mixed success – but also with the forehand. It is therefore difficult to worry Sascha. Who serves masterfully in the first set and breaks his opponent’s serve in the seventh game, the only break of the set. Only two seconds in the set for Sascha, followed by two double fouls. Crack obscured by the excellent performance with the first, but in the second set the percentage drops and the serve suddenly becomes the enemy of the German: in the eighth game comes the break in favor of Tsitsipas with two backlashes from Zverev in the corridor (alternating fortunes, precisely) and the double foul.

the third

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We go to the third set, which however is far from fought: Tsitsipas plays short, is even more foul than before and gets nervous when he receives a warning for coaching (far from new for the Greek). Zverev returns to serve well – only three points conceded on his batting turns – and breaks his opponent twice: at 1.10 am, the match ends with a 6-2 in the third set. Now under with Alcaraz: the previous two challenges were won by the German.