Arthur Fils upsets Alexander Zverev, Grigor Dimitrov into Miami semis

MIAMI – Arthur Fils admitted he was not at 100 per cent, but that did not stop the Frenchman from upsetting top seed Alexander Zverev 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the fourth round of the Miami Open on March 26.

The 20-year-old will next face 19-year-old Czech Jakub Mensik in a quarter-final that ended after press time, with both players chasing their first Masters 1000 semi-final spot.

Fils’ victory was all the more impressive given that he later revealed he was suffering from chronic back pain.

“I was feeling not great in the rallies. I’ve had a little problem in my back since I was young, so sometimes it hurts me a little bit,” he explained.

“I had to find a rhythm, (be) more aggressive and come into the court to play my game and not let him play, because when you let him play, he is one of the best tennis players in the world. I’m really happy about the way I did it.”

Rallying from a set down, Fils showed great determination to fight his way back and go 4-1 up in the second set. Zverev responded to take a 3-1 lead early in the third but, again, Fils refused to let the match slip from his grasp.

The Frenchman, using his athleticism and powerful forehand, broke back to 3-2 and then, when Zverev went long on a return, took a 4-3 lead. The German held when serving to stay in the game at 5-4 down, but Fils kept his composure to serve out for one of the biggest wins of his career.

“In the third set, I thought it was over, at 1-3 and with him serving great,” said Fils on his two-hour triumph in which he struck 25 winners to Zverev’s 13.

“I just said, ‘Okay, don’t get mad. Just try to play as much as you can and try to fight, and if you get a break, it’s nice’. It happened, so what can I say.”

Fils had also reached the quarter-finals at Indian Wells earlier in March and he becomes the first Frenchman to make the last eight in both legs of the Sunshine Double since Gael Monfils in 2016.

In the opening quarter-final, Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov battled back from a set down to beat Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) in a riveting duel that lasted two hours and 48 minutes.

After Cerundolo edged out the first set, the 33-year-old Dimitrov found his rhythm and was relentless in forcing Cerundolo to work on the baseline for every point. But he was exhausted at the conclusion of the match, needing medical attention and skipping the on-court interview.

Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic’s last-eight match against American Sebastian Korda was moved to March 27 (March 28 morning, Singapore time) after games on March 26 ran over schedule.

Fans who had waited until the end of the WTA match between Jessica Pegula against Emma Raducanu, in expectation of seeing Djokovic, were told at 11.30pm local time that the match was being rescheduled.

“In accordance with ATP rules that do not allow for a match to go on court after 11pm, the match between Novak Djokovic and Sebastian Korda has been postponed,” Miami Open organisers said, as boos rang out from the arena. AFP