Zverev makes it four from four

For the fourth straight year, Alexander Zverev will play in the Roland-Garros semi-finals

Alexander Zverev, quarter-final, Roland-Garros 2024©️Corinne Dubreuil / FFT
 - Victoria Chiesa

After back-to-back five-set matches on Court Philippe-Chatrier in the third and fourth rounds that totalled a combined eight-plus hours, Alexander Zverev needed about a third of that time to defeat No.11 seed Alex de Minaur 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-4 in Wednesday night’s last men’s quarter-final. 

Now on an 11-match winning streak, Rome champion Zverev will take a 2-2 record into Friday’s semi-final against two-time Roland-Garros finalist Casper Ruud in a bid to break through to the final weekend in Paris for the first time.

But he’s lost his last two matches against Ruud, including a 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 rout in the Roland-Garros semi-finals last year.

Story of the match

Zverev had the edge in both clay-court pedigree, and all-time, against de Minaur entering Friday’s match.

Not only was the Aussie contesting his first Roland-Garros quarter-final (as the first man from his country to get this far in Paris in 20 years), but he’d also lost seven of nine previous meetings against Zverev.

But despite the head-to-head deficit, de Minaur has never let Zverev have victory easily in their recent history. After losing the pair’s first four meetings, he picked up two wins in the next five and won a set in each of the three defeats.

He came closest to doing so in the second set of his second career Grand Slam quarter-final. From an earlier break deficit, de Minaur engineered a set point in the 12th game, which Zverev saved by forcing a de Minaur forehand error to close an 11-ball rally and also led 4-0 and 5-3 in the tie-break.

But he lost the last four points, and with it fell into a two-set deficit.

He made three unforced errors in the last four points of the tie-break, and on the other – at 5-5 – a scrambling Zverev kept a 39-shot rally alive until de Minaur missed his final forehand.

The point, in fact, was a microcosm of the match itself, with the German willing to trade his tennis shoes for track spikes and defend unyieldingly when needed.

The Aussie’s trademark fighting spirit was also on display in the third set, where he won back-to-back games from 5-2 behind, breaking Zverev’s serve for a third time to stay in the match.

He would eventually drop serve for a fifth time to lose the match and missed a backhand to close another marathon rally on match point.

Alex de Minaur, Alexander Zverev, quarter-final, Roland-Garros 2024©️Corinne Dubreuil / FFT

Key stats

Zverev is the 11th man in the Open era to reach at least four consecutive semi-finals at Roland-Garros. By reaching his eighth Grand Slam semi-final, he and Daniil Medvedev now share the ATP tour lead for the most Grand Slam semi-final appearances among players born in 1990 or later. 

Despite hitting eight fewer winners than de Minaur over two hours and 59 minutes, Zverev found them when it counted and, crucially, hit 13 fewer unforced errors than the Aussie.

Mistakes at crucial moments proved to be the Aussie’s undoing. De Minaur’s 58 unforced errors nearly doubled his total of 28 winners, and he only saved one of the six break points he faced.

Zverev's take on things

On his effort in the event’s late stages: “I have a mindset that you have to work harder than anyone else to be the best player. I think the best players are all doing that.

"I like to work to my absolute limit, and if I do that, then playing five sets, all of a sudden, is not that difficult. I’ve been doing that over many, many years now, and I’m happy it’s paying off, still paying off. I’m happy to be in another semi-final, and hopefully, I can win one.”

On the 5-5 point of his tie-break comeback: “Running for everything, putting the balls back in the court, sometimes it pays off. I wish I would be more aggressive sometimes, but if I’m winning, I’m happy. I’m in the semi-finals, and that’s all that matters.”