(Provided by Tennis World USA)
Alexander Zverev left the Rome Masters with a bitter taste in his mouth. Former world no. 2 lost another match against a top-10 rival, still seeking a win against the rival from that group a year after the last one! Alexander won only 14 out of 27 matches in 2023 and decided to take another shot ahead of Roland Garros, asking for the ATP 250 Geneva wild card.
The champion from 2019 is through into the semi-final, beating Chris Eubanks in the second round and spending only 21 minutes on the court in Friday’s quarter-final. Zverev played well against Eubanks in his first match in Geneva in four years.
The German earned a 6-2, 6-3 victory in 67 minutes for a convincing start. A better-ranked player dropped ten points in eight service games and dominated with his first serve. Alexander defended the only break point he faced and kept the pressure on the other side.
Eubanks failed to earn free points with his initial shot, losing 43% of the points in his games and getting broken four times from six chances offered to Zverev.
Alexander Zverev is through to his second semi-final of the season.
The former champion produced four commanding holds in the opener and controlled everything with two breaks. Chris held at love in the encounter’s first game, and Alexander responded with an ace down the T line in game two for 1-1.
The American missed a forehand in the third game to lose serve and push the German 2-1 in front. Zverev confirmed it with a backhand down the line winner in the fourth game. He claimed an incredible point with a forehand down the line winner in the next one for another break and 4-1.
Alexander fired a service winner in game six to open a 5-1 gap, and Chris clinched the next one with a volley winner to extend the set. Zverev served for the set at 5-2 and held at 15 to wrap up the opener in 28 minutes. Eubanks made a stronger start in the second set and produced three comfortable holds, already doing better than in the opener.
Alexander squandered a 40-0 lead in the fourth game and faced a break point. He denied it with a service winner and grabbed a break at 3-3 after Chris’ costly double fault. Zverev moved 5-3 up with a hold at love and secured another break in the ninth game to emerge at the top and advance into the quarter-final.
Alexander led 4-1 against Yibing Wu when the Chinese retired with an injury. Zverev grabbed breaks in games three and five, and Wu decided to retire and try to prepare for Roland Garros.
Source: Tennis World USA
