Tennis: Title form in tiebreaks: Nervous Zverev in the semi-finals

Tennis star Alexander Zverev is only two wins away from his longed-for first Grand Slam title and can look forward to a semi-final showdown against an exceptional talent. The 27-year-old won against US professional Tommy Paul 7:6 (7:1), 7:6, (7:0), 2:6, 6:1. and reached the top four at the Australian Open for the third time.

But a completely different caliber awaits the world number two there on Thursday. Zverev’s opponent in the semi-finals will be determined in the subsequent giant duel between the 24-time Grand Slam tournament winner Novak Djokovic from Serbia and Spain’s tennis ace Carlos Alcaraz (approx. 10.30 a.m./CET).

Zverev surpasses Becker

Zverev will have to improve to reach the final; the 2021 Olympic champion initially weakened against Paul, of all things on his first serve. Thanks to strong nerves in the tiebreaks and an increase in performance in the fourth set, the Hamburg player still won after 3:28 hours.

With his 30th victory in total at the Australian Open, he surpassed tennis icon Boris Becker in this statistic and is now the sole record holder among male German players.