Fourth seed Alexander Zverev overcame an early match blip to book his place in the semi-finals of the US Open after defeating Lloyd Harris in straight sets.
Zverev, who finished runner-up 12 months ago, rallied to a 7-6(6), 6-3, 6-4, win in two hours and eight minutes. Extending his winning streak on the Tour to 16 matches in what is the best-ever run in his career. Out of those encounters, he has won 37 out of 40 sets played. Against Harris, Zverev produced 20 aces and 43 winners en route to victory.
“He was serving incredible, in the first set especially. I didn’t have a lot of chances on his serve and I somehow managed to win that first set. That loosened me up a bit and I started to play better,” Zverev said during his on-court interview. “In the third set, he started swinging, playing incredible tennis. I’m happy to be through in three.”
Bidding to reach the final for the second year in a row, Zverev was pushed to his limits early on by the 24-year-old. Harris had a chance to serve out the first set after breaking for a 5-4 lead but failed to seize the opportunity. Paving the way for what turned out to be a tense tiebreaker with both players having their opportunities.
Once again, it was the world No.46 who was on the brink of clinching the opener as he worked his way to a 6-5 lead in the tiebreak. However, proceedings on the court came to a brief halt with Zverev complaining about the screens on the Arthur Ashe stadium being a distraction which he also previously mentioned earlier in the match. Prompting the umpire to make a call for it to be turned off. When play resumed, Harris failed to convert his set point as Zverev won three points in a row to seal a 7-6 lead.
The frustration of not being able to take the opener against Zverev prompted Harris to throw two of his drinks bottles to the ground out of anger which ended up exploding across the court. In what was a bizarre scene, both players, the umpire and numerous ball kids then had to clear up the mess with towels. The actions of the South African were unintentional and he didn’t get penalised for the incident. Although there was a minor delay to the start of the second set.
Nerves were prevalent throughout the encounter for both players at times but it was Zverev who maintained the edge. A single break during the second set was enough of a margin for him to close it out. However, in the final game of that set, the German failed to get his first serve in on five out of six points but capitalised on a series of unforced errors coming from across the court.
In cruise control, Zverev secured victory with relative ease by steamrolling through the third set with the help of a double break as his opponent continued to implode. Admirably Harris fought back by retrieving one of those breaks but it wasn’t enough to change the outcome of the match.
“I played the (2020) final here in front of six people so that was a little bit weird for me. It’s incredible to have the crowd back,” said Zverev.
“We missed it (a crowd) for over a year all over the world. It’s good to see that the world is slowly going back to normality. I always said sports are emotions but spectators are the ones who give us that emotions.”
The world No.4 will next play either Novak Djokovic or Matteo Berrettini in the next round. Two players who he has already beaten this season. However, he has also lost to Djokovic twice this year.
