Monday, September 6th, 2021
Sinner beaten at the US Open
Zverev storms smoothly into the quarter-finals
Jannik Sinner plays bravely, fights to the last point, but Alexander Zverev is in the shape of his life. In the third set, the German wobbles briefly, his serve saves him in the tie-break, where he seals his 15th victory in a row and moves into the quarter-finals of the US Open.
Alexander Zverev smiled after his humorless quarter-finals, then thanked the audience in Arthur-Ashe-Stadium with satisfaction: After the next dominant appearance at the US Open, the Olympic champion is only three wins away from his big dream.
The top tennis player from Hamburg achieved the round of eight in a Grand Slam tournament for the seventh time with a 6: 4, 6: 4, 7: 6 (9: 7) win against the Italian Jannik Sinner and has further determined to have his first major title in view. “It was a high-level match from start to finish. I am happy that I can continue without losing a set and I am excited to see what is still possible in the tournament,” said Zverev.
Last year’s finalist didn’t miss anything against Sinner in the important phases, earned the 15th win in a row and now faces the US giant Reilly Opelka, who is 2.11 meters tall, or the South African Lloyd Harris. Zverev can continue to become the second professional after Andy Murray in 2012, who won Olympic gold and the title in New York in the same year. In the semifinals, he could expect the maximum challenge against Tour dominator Novak Djokovic.
Sinner awards set balls
Zverev had safely marched into the round of 16 and only made a sentence in the third round against the American Jack Sock and revealed some problems. Against Sinner, the world number four was sure, a great challenge awaited him. As part of the “NextGen”, the next generation, number 16 in the ATP ranking is one of the shooting stars of the scene.
Correctly warned, Zverev started the match. The world number four put pressure with his service and grabbed when Sinner faltered briefly. The same pattern was repeated in the second round when Zverev, who was not always satisfied with his presentation and also threw his bat once, broke to 5: 4. Sinner still had two chances to rebreak, but could not use them.
With the interim goal of the quarter-finals in mind, Zverev now pushed the pace and took Sinner’s serve early in the third set with a cracking forehand. Sinner fought his way back again and had a total of five set balls, but Zverev kept his nerve.
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