Alexander Zverev has made it to the semi-finals of the French Open for the fourth year in a row. He won against Alex de Minaur from Australia with scores of 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 on Wednesday.
Zverev who is the fourth seed in the tournament will play against Casper Ruud next. Ruud advanced to the semi-final because Novak Djokovic had to withdraw due to injury.
Zverev from Germany has won 11 matches in a row after winning the Rome title last month. However he has never reached the final at the French Open.
“I’m happy to be in another semi-final. Hopefully I can win one,” said Zverev. He beat Rafael Nadal, a 14-time champion, in the first round of this year’s tournament.
Last year Zverev lost to Ruud in the semi-finals of the French Open.
In his match against De Minaur, Zverev won in less than three hours. He saved a set point in the second set and won a 39-shot rally to get his own set point, which he won.
“Everybody in the press keeps asking me what I do for recovery and the answer is very simple — you don’t recover after matches, you recover in the off-season,” said Zverev. “I have the mindset you have to work harder than everyone else to be the best player. I like to work to my absolute limit. If I do that then playing five sets all of a sudden is not that difficult.”
In 2022 Zverev had to stop playing in the semi-final against Nadal due to a serious ankle injury. In 2021 he lost in the semi-finals to Stefanos Tsitsipas in five sets.
Zverev is also dealing with a trial in Berlin over allegations of assaulting an ex-girlfriend.
De Minaur was hoping to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final. He has lost eight out of ten matches against Zverev.
“I’m extremely proud of my efforts through the two weeks. Even today I think I put up a hell of a fight in difficult conditions against a quality opponent,” said De Minaur. This was his second quarter-final at a major tournament.
De Minaur was disappointed about losing a 4-0 lead in the tie-break of the second set. He wanted to become the first Australian man to reach the last four in Paris since Pat Rafter in 1997.
“I had my opportunities. Should have probably taken the second set and I think we would have been in for a proper battle. I left my heart out there, I did everything I could. It wasn’t good enough.”
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