It took until after midnight local time for Carlos Alcaraz to wake up from his lethargy in the Rod Laver Arena. During two and a half sets, the Spaniard was clearly inferior to his opponent Alexander Zverev, only missing two break chances and having his serve taken away five times.
Zverev, who had hardly shown any weaknesses in service until then, only let up a little at 5:3 in the 3rd set with victory in sight. At 30:30, 2 points separated the Germans from advancing to the semi-finals. But Alcaraz managed his first break with the knife on his neck to make it 4:5. In the tiebreak the Spaniard was definitely a substitute. After being 0-2 behind, he won the following 7 points, some spectacularly, and won the round.
No trace of tiredness
Anyone who thought that the number 2 in the world was now starting to catch up was proven wrong. Zverev, who had been on the pitch for 5 hours longer than Alcaraz in his 4 games in Melbourne before the quarter-finals, had another reaction ready. In the 9th game of the 4th round he made the decisive service breakthrough to make it 5:4. This time he kept his nerve and served the match home after 3:06 hours.
For the second time since 2020, Zverev made it into the semi-finals of the Australian Open. Once again he proved that Alcaraz doesn’t suit him badly. In the 8th duel he achieved his 5th victory, most recently he also had the upper hand at the ATP Finals in Turin. The Hamburger also took revenge for the defeat in the quarterfinals of last year’s US Open.
Alcaraz, however, doesn’t seem to be really warming up to the Australian Open. The 20-year-old has reached the semi-finals at least once at all other majors, but not yet in Melbourne. After the defeat, it is also clear that Novak Djokovic will remain number 1 in the world after the “Happy Slam”.
Zverev now against Medvedev
In the round of the last 4, Zverev will face Daniil Medvedev on Friday, against whom he has a 7:11 record. The Russian needed a little longer in his quarterfinal against Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz: he was in action for almost 4 hours in the five-set win.