French Open
Zverev “simply happy” about reaching the quarter-finals
Alexander Zverev’s next opponent is Australian Alex De Minaur. Photo
© -/kyodo/dpa
That was a tough job: The German tennis pro avoided being knocked out in the round of 16 in Paris with another show of strength. Now an Australian is waiting.
After his second five-set thriller at this year’s French Open, tennis star Alexander Zverev was longing for some rest. “Now I have to get back to the hotel as quickly as possible, get treatment and then go to sleep and then hopefully I’ll be fresh tomorrow,” said the 27-year-old during his media round at 2:30 a.m.
Zverev had previously defeated the Dane Holger Rune 4:6, 6:1, 5:7, 7:6 (7:2), 6:2 in his dramatic round of 16 match and reached the quarterfinals of the Grand Slam tournament on clay in Paris for the sixth time. “I’m just happy that I survived and am now in the quarterfinals,” said the Hamburg native, who had just managed to avoid being knocked out in five sets by the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor in the previous round.
In the quarter-finals against De Minaur
Zverev was asked whether he had the strength for three more five-set matches to win his long-awaited first Grand Slam title. “I want to say yes,” the world number four replied with a smile. “But I hope that at some point I won’t win in five sets.”
His next opponent on Wednesday is Australian Alex De Minaur, who surprisingly beat Russian world number five Daniil Medvedev 4:6, 6:2, 6:1, 6:3. Zverev has won seven of nine matches against the hard court specialist. But he warned: “Alex played an incredible match against Medvedev, showed really great tennis. I expect it will be another difficult match.”