Alexander Zverev is into his second semi-final after cruising past Carlos Alcaraz 6-1 6-3 6-7(2) 6-4.
The German cruised through the opening two and three quarter sets before edging through the fourth set to seal a place in the semi-finals.
However Alcaraz produced his worst start to a match this tournament before producing a late comeback in order to force a fourth set, however it wasn’t enough.
Zverev will now play Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals as he defeated Hubert Hurkacz in five sets.
It was a crushing performance from Zverev as he served confidently and tested Alcaraz’s baseline game from the start of the match.
An error-prone start from Alcaraz saw the German take a 3-0 lead and the Spaniard’s evening didn’t get much better.
After a service hold in the fourth game, Alcaraz completed a nightmare opening set with only two winners and eleven unforced errors.
Take nothing away from Zverev who continued to dominate from both the baseline and the net as he claimed the opening set in 29 minutes.
In the second set, there was a much better start from Alcaraz as he was expected to push on with the world number two looking to elevate his level.
Losing only two points on serve, Alcaraz pushed for the break of serve in the sixth game with some aggressive forehands as he increased his aggression and creating two break points.
This caused Zverev to raise his game in the big moments as Alcaraz was too passive.
The German held and a very poor next few games from the Spaniard saw the German break twice to take a two set lead.
In the third set, it looked like Zverev was set to cruise to victory as he broke easily at the start of the set and was heading to a straight sets victory.
However with his back against the wall, Alcaraz produced inspired tennis as the Spaniard came back from 5-3 down to take the third set in a tiebreak.
An inspired comeback from Alcaraz who had all the momentum and it would seem he would win the match as the Spaniard recovered from an early break down to assume control of the match.
However Zverev kept fighting and plugging away as he found his best tennis at the right moments to break for a 5-4 lead.
The German reached his seventh Grand Slam semi-final on his first match point as he will now face Medvedev on Friday.
As for Alcaraz, it’s bitter disappointment as his wait for an Australian Open title continues.
