Alexander Zverev reaches ATP Finals last four with win over Carlos Alcaraz

TURIN – The question at the ATP Finals is: Can Alexander Zverev be stopped?

On Nov 15, the German beat Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 in their John Newcombe Group clash in Turin, extending his winning streak to eight matches.

The world No. 2 also gained a measure of revenge after Alcaraz beat him in five sets in the 2024 French Open final. On top of that, Zverev ensured that he will end the year second in the rankings, ahead of the young Spaniard.

“He beat me too many times this year in important matches so I’m happy I got this one,” said Zverev, who leads their head-to-head 6-5.

“I feel like we have a pretty good rivalry with a great friendship as well. It’s always nice to play him, except when he beats me... That’s not nice.

“But sharing the court with him, he’s a great guy.”

His win meant that he finished top of the group and will take on American Taylor Fritz in the semi-finals.

Alcaraz, meanwhile, will have to wait and see if he can still make the last four. That would happen only if Russia’s Andrey Rublev beats Norway’s Casper Ruud in straight sets in the later match which started after press time.

Three of the semi-final spots were filled after Zverev’s victory, with Fritz and Jannik Sinner through from the Ilie Nastase Group.

Earlier on Nov 14, Italian Sinner capped a perfect group stage with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Daniil Medvedev, eliminating his Russian rival.

The world No. 1 had already qualified for the semi-finals thanks to Alex de Minaur winning the opening set in his defeat by Fritz earlier in the day.

And he needed only a set to ensure top spot in the group and deny Medvedev a place in the last four.

Sinner was in no mood to disappoint his passionate home supporters and put in the latest in an increasingly long line of impressive performances to head into the semi-finals with a perfect three wins from three.

“I have a reason to smile, it was a good match and a brilliant atmosphere as always,” he said.

“It was a difficult match, Daniil and I know each other really well so I knew that I had to get it right tactically...

“Let’s see who I have in the semi-finals, I’m happy to get there.”

Medvedev would have progressed with a win in straight sets but the world No. 4 has now won just one of his last nine matches against Sinner and was outclassed in northern Italy.

After finishing the season with no titles, he told reporters that he rated his season “zero out of 10” when looking at “where I put my goals and where I finish”.

“I want to be No. 1 in the world, but I didn’t play well enough this year, by far,” said Medvedev, who had won at least one title a year since 2018.

In other news, ATP president Andrea Gaudenzi admitted on Nov 14 that the men’s tennis close season is too short but blamed the lack of time off for tired players on the Davis Cup.

Players have lamented the longer, more draining ATP calendar, in particular after the remodelling of the tour’s top-tier Masters 1000 tournaments into two-week events.

In September, Alcaraz said that the schedule is “going to kill us”, but Gaudenzi said the Davis Cup Finals, the knockout stage of which gets under way later in November, was a key culprit for player fatigue.

“When I was young, the Davis Cup final was between two teams,” he said at the sidelines of the ATP Finals. “This season there were 50 players called up for the final stages.

“Players don’t have enough time to relax their bodies.”

In women’s tennis, Japan and Slovakia produced stunning comebacks on Nov 14 to beat Romania and the United States 2-1 respectively and reach the quarter-finals of the Billie Jean King Cup.

After fighting back to 1-1, Slovakia’s Viktoria Hruncakova and Tereza Mihalikova had to dig deep to beat Americans Ashlyn Krueger and Taylor Townsend 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 in the doubles.

Earlier, Japan produced a comeback of their own and reached the quarter-finals for the first time since 2013. AFP, REUTERS