Tennis: Alexander Zverev eliminated in the quarterfinals of the US Open

Alexander Zverev has won the US Open A great opportunity was missed and he was eliminated in the quarterfinals. The 2021 Olympic tennis champion lost 6:7 (2:7), 6:3, 4:6, 6:7 (3:7) in a high-class match against Taylor Fritz and was unable to take revenge against the Americans for the year’s round of 16 defeat at Wimbledon.

“I did nothing to win today,” said the 2021 Olympic tennis champion self-critically after the match. “I played terribly.” Zverev was too passive in the decisive moments and missed his third semi-final appearance new York.

Fritz with aggressive tactics

The Californian Fritz attacked early on Zverev’s serve, stood close to the baseline and tried to apply pressure immediately. But the Hamburg native remained confident on his serve for a long time – until he had three set points against him at 5:6. With seven strong first serves in the series, Zverev saved himself in the tiebreak. However, Fritz did not let the missed opportunities throw him off track and won the set with six points in a row.

The world number four fought his way back into the game emotionally. With his first break point of the whole match, he took Fritz’s serve to make it 5:3 and after 1:37 hours, he tied the set. Zverev’s start in the third set was a failure. He was quickly 0:3 behind, but came back. When he goes on the offensive and goes to the net, he usually wins the point. But when the score was 4:5, Zverev wobbled again. He was able to fend off four set points, and Fritz took advantage of number five. The fourth set remained exciting for a long time – the tiebreak had to decide again. As in the first set, Fritz kept his nerve and was able to celebrate.

Waiting for a Grand Slam triumph

The 27-year-old from Hamburg still has to wait for his first Grand Slam triumph. The starting position for the first title at one of the four major tournaments was as good as it has been for a long time after the early elimination of the defending champion Novak Đoković from Serbia and the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz. At the French Open he had lost to Alcaraz in the final.

Despite the defeat, Zverev could return to second place in the world rankings after the US Open. Fritz is in the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his career and will now face the winner of the match between fellow American Frances Tiafoe and Grigor Dimitrov from Bulgaria.