Alexander Zverev booked his spot in the final four of Roland Garros with a comfortable 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 win over the Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in a match that lasted one hour and 36 minutes.
The world No.6 fired 24 winners and won 76% of his points on his first serve to become only the third German man in the Open Era to reach the last four at Roland Garros. It is just the third time Zverev has reached the last four of a major.
” It’s very nice to be in the semifinals but just being here doesn’t satisfy me, I’m playing OK and I hope I can continue playing the same way maybe even better in the semifinals and we will see what happens in two days,” said Zverev.
It was actually Davidovich Fokina who got off to the better start earning three breakpoints in the opening game of the match and managed to grab the early break but the world number six responded by breaking back the following game. After holding serve it was the German with another chance to break and take the lead but the world number 46 was able to save both and hold serve before breaking once again the very next game.
Again the 24-year-old Zverev bounced right back and was able to break again and hold serve before going on the offensive. Getting the break to serve out the first set but was broken once again when serving for it but broke right back to take the first set.
The second set was a little more straightforward with the first three games going with serve before the world number six was able to get the first break of the set and managed to go up a double break and served out the second set in 22 minutes flat.
The German carried the momentum into the third and had two early chances to break but the 21 year old saved both before eventually getting broken at the third time of asking. At 3-1 the world number six had another chance to go up a double break and he broke once again and at 5-1 broke the Spaniard a final time winning the match with a forehand winner down the line.
” After the first set my baseline game improved a lot, I started dominating the points but in the beginning,” he said. “I didn’t think I played that well but I think I can play better hopefully.
“He (Davidovich Fokina) is someone who has improved a lot over the past year-and-a-half and he’s climbing up the rankings pretty quickly. It’s his first-ever grand slam quarterfinal and it won’t be his last. He is somebody I think I will play a lot in the future,” Zverev added.
Zverev will now face the winner of the quarter-final match between Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
