French Open: Zverev reaches the quarterfinals of Paris after 4-hour thriller | EUROtoday

Status: 05:33 am | Reading time: 3 minutes

NAfter Alexander Zverev had ended his newest five-set thriller with an overhead smash, he unfold his arms and let the gang rejoice. The tennis star can proceed his title mission on the French Open in Paris after one other five-set thriller. The 27-year-old received his extremely changeable spherical of 16 match towards the Dane Holger Rune 4:6, 6:1, 5:7, 7:6 (7:2), 6:2 and is now within the quarterfinals of the Grand Slam match on clay for the fourth time in a row.

“Holger is an incredible player, a great talent. I'm happy that I made it through,” stated the Hamburg native in an interview on Court Philippe Chatrier. Zverev's hard-fought victory was solely confirmed at 1:40 a.m. on Tuesday evening after 4 hours and 11 minutes of play. The Olympic champion had already managed to avert an impending exit in 5 units towards the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor within the third spherical.

In the spherical of the perfect eight on Wednesday, the Hamburg native will face Australian Alex De Minaur, who surprisingly beat Russian world quantity 5 Daniil Medvedev 4:6, 6:2, 6:1, 6:3 throughout the day.

“I think it's a dangerous match for Sascha,” Eurosport professional Boris Becker, who coached Rune till February, predicted earlier than the primary serve. Rune additionally performed with a variety of variation, with many rhythm adjustments; he used the identical ways to unnerve Zverev in the one duel on clay in 2022 in Munich.

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After dropping the primary set, Zverev misplaced his slight passivity, and his beforehand weaker second serve additionally stabilized. After the German deservedly tied the set, each opponents typically had nice issue getting their serve video games by means of. But they placed on a top-class duel when it comes to combating spirit. “They left everything they had on the court,” enthused Becker: “That's great sport.” In the final set, Zverev was at his finest, and Rune was typically too hectic.

Djokovic additionally with five-set drama

The match began greater than an hour later than deliberate as a result of Novak Djokovic had additionally beforehand brought on a five-set drama on Court Philippe Chatrier. It took 4 hours and 39 minutes for his 6:1, 5:7, 3:6, 7:5, 6:3 spherical of 16 victory towards the Argentine outsider Francisco Cerúndolo to develop into sure. As within the earlier spherical, the defending champion from Serbia fought again from a 1:2 set deficit – this time even handicapped by a knee damage initially of the second set.

A begin within the quarter-finals is subsequently not sure. “I don't know what will happen tomorrow or the day after, whether I will be able to go on the court and play,” stated the 37-year-old late on Monday night. He should see the way it feels when the adrenaline and painkillers not work.

But Djokovic will should be in prime type towards final 12 months's finalist Casper Ruud from Norway, who beat the American Taylor Fritz 7:6 (8:6), 3:6, 6:4, 6:2 and can face the quarterfinals on Wednesday.