Alexander Zverev primed for ‘very intense’ Australian Open semi-final

MELBOURNE – Alexander Zverev said on Jan 21 he believes he can reach the Australian Open final for the first time and is primed for a “very intense and high-level” clash to get there – with Novak Djokovic or Carlos Alcaraz in his way.

He battled to reach the semi-finals in Melbourne for a second straight year with victory over Tommy Paul, edging closer to his maiden Grand Slam title.

The world No. 2 came good when it mattered in two tiebreaks on a hot and windy day on Rod Laver Arena for a 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (7-0), 2-6, 6-1 win over the 12th-seeded American.

Zverev, 27, also reached the semi-finals in 2020, losing to Austria’s Dominic Thiem, and in 2024, when he crashed to Daniil Medvedev of Russia in five sets after holding a 2-0 lead.

Now into the last four of a Grand Slam for the ninth time, Zverev, who has never been crowned a Major champion in a decade of trying, will need to beat 10-time Melbourne winner Djokovic or Spanish third seed Alcaraz to reach the Jan 26 final.

“I’m going to prepare myself for a tough battle. I’m going to prepare myself for a very intense and high-level match,” Zverev said.

“I know I have the level. I’ve beaten them before. Hopefully I can do that again in two days’ time. You’re not going to get to the semis of a Grand Slam by not deserving to be there and not playing great tennis.”

Paul, also 27, had beaten Zverev in their two previous meetings and worked hard to gain the upper hand in the first two sets, only for the German to raise his game to drag him back into a dogfight.

The 2023 semi-finalist kept pressing and a smart drop shot gave him three break points at 5-5. Zverev saved two, but Paul converted the third when the German netted a backhand. Undeterred, Zverev struck straight back to take it to a tiebreaker, where he dominated as Paul became frustrated and fumed at the umpire over a disputed net call.

The American regrouped and a sizzling backhand winner saw him break, then hold for a 3-0 lead in the second set. This time it was Zverev’s turn to lose his cool when the umpire called for a replay due to a feather floating in front of the German as he played a shot on break point.

“C’mon, that is unbelievable on break point,” he shouted, before taking out his fury on Paul by breaking back to love.

It went to another tiebreak, where Paul once again went missing. But he broke early in the third set and again as the Zverev serve misfired to take it to a fourth set. There, Zverev raced 5-0 clear as Paul wilted, sealing the win with an ace.

“To be honest, I should have been down two sets to love, he played better than me,” said Zverev, who is bidding to become the first German man to win a Slam since Boris Becker in 1996.

“But I somehow won the first set, somehow won the second. And the fourth set was definitely the best that I played. I’m obviously extremely happy to be back in the semi-finals.”

World No. 11 Paul blamed his loss on his inability to shut down sets when given the chance, but said there were some learning points from the tournament.

“Losing sucks always, but there’s good takeaways,” he said. “I served for the first two sets and won the third set, not pretty, but I won the third set.

“I just have to close those sets out. That’s what the top players do so well. When they’re front-running, they do a great job in closing big sets or any sets, and that’s what I didn’t do well today. Then, when we got to the breakers, he obviously dominated the breakers. I made way too many unforced errors, and he locked it down.”

Paul hit far more winners than the German (44-27), but totted up 56 unforced errors to Zverev’s 36.

“Unfortunately, my unforced-error count was just too high today,” said Paul, who is projected to move into the top 10 on the back of his Melbourne run.

“You can’t have that when you’re playing guys who are No. 2 in the world at Slams.” AFP, REUTERS