Sensation at the US Open: Zverev fights his way to the final after a five-sentence thriller - is he already following in Becker's footsteps?

Alexander Zverev is in the final at the US Open in New York.

There he meets Dominic Thiem.

He is the first German finalist since 2003.

• Alexander Zverev

  is in the

  semifinals of

  the

  US Open

  * for the first time.

• He wants to

  move

  into his first

  Grand Slam final

  with a win against the Spaniard

  Pablo Carreño Busta

  .

• In the

  final there

  could be a duel with a

  friend and rival

  .

Update from September 12, 2020:

The first

is within reach,

following in Boris Becker's footsteps after a nervous race to catch up: The 23-year-old from Hamburg

reached the final of one of the four most important tennis tournaments

at the

for the first time , in the semifinals he came back from an almost hopeless position and defeated the Spaniard

after 3:22 hours with 3: 6, 2: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4, 6: 3.

Zverev is

still

missing a win in

to become the first German since Becker to be crowned Grand Slam champion in men's singles at the 1996 Australian Open.

US Open: Zverev has been the first German to enter the Grand Slam final since 2003

"I couldn't be happier, but there is still another step to take," said

, who became the first German since Rainer Schüttler to reach

a

at the

2003

: "I could hardly believe it: I'm playing in a Grand Slam semi-final as the favorite and I'm 0-2 behind. But I'm in my first Grand Slam final, that's the most important thing. "

For the first time in his career,

turned

a match after falling two sets, so Becker praised the Eurosport expert: "It's unbelievable what a mentality monster Sascha Zverev has become."

US Open: Zverev meets Dominic Thiem from Austria in the final

On Sunday (from 10 p.m. CEST / Eurosport), the youngest major finalist in ten years will face the world number three

from Austria, who beat last year's finalist Daniil Medvedev (Russia) 6: 2, 7: 6 (9: 9: 7), 7: 6 (7: 5) defeated.

good friends

with Thiem

, but the world number seven had lost his first Grand Slam semi-final in Melbourne in January.

In nine comparisons, Zverev went as a loser seven times.

US Open semifinals: Zverev with a bad start against Carreno Busta

As in the quarterfinals against the Croatian Borna Coric, Zverev got off to a worse start, quickly falling behind with 1: 5.

The expected long and exhausting rallies developed at a high level, despite a rebound from Zverev, set one went to the strong Spaniard after 40 minutes.

had previously got

tips

in many phone calls with his new trainer David Ferrer, who knows his compatriot very well.

On the television in Spain he saw how his protégé continued to dominate the

, but

remained much more stable.

Zverev

looked more and more desperate, but the 29-year-old Spaniard was braver and had an answer to everything.

Zverev crept to his bench with sagging shoulders after giving up his serve to make it 5-0 for the third time in the second round.

US Open semi-finals: Zverev fights back

"I have the feeling he's still warming up," said

older brother Mischa after losing the second set at Eurosport.

But that changed all of a sudden, suddenly Zverev played more liberated, two breaks and 34 minutes later sentence three belonged to him.

As Zverev became more and more secure, Carreno Busta became more nervous.

Becker also drew hope: "He can still tear it up," said the three-time Wimbledon winner: "He smells morning air, he tastes blood."

In the fourth movement the match developed more and more into a hectic nerve battle.

Zverev immediately gave an early break to 2-1, a little later he got another one.

acted more and more anxious, especially when

- and

anger when he aimed twice at the German's body on the net.

But Zverev stayed focused and forced the decisive sentence after 2:44 hours.

The momentum was now clearly with the hamburger.

had his back treated,

immediately attacked the ailing opponent and took the serve from him.

The Spaniard fought doggedly on, but Zverev served strong and did not let him come closer.

(SID)

US Open: Only two wins to triumph!

Zverev on the way to the dream final?

First report from September 11, 2020:

New York -

is the first German since

to be in the

the

.

It goes without saying that all eyes are on the young German on Friday evening.

The expectations are suddenly there - because Zverev is the

favorite

against the Spaniard

.

US Open: Alexander Zverev wants to move into the final against Pablo Carreño Busta

The

23-year-old's

particularly evident in the quarter-finals

.

In the match against

From the start, things didn't go well for him at all.

The Zverev of the past few years would almost certainly not have won this match - rather, it would have smashed two or three clubs.

But a new calm, a new serenity accompanies him at this tournament.

In the end, he dominated his opponent - and left the field as the winner.

Check out this post on Instagram

A post shared by Alexander Zverev (@ alexzverev123) on Sep 10, 2020 at 12:23 PM PDT

Zverev knows that he has to improve playfully.

Not for the first time at this tournament, he expressed himself self-critically: “I'm not yet playing my best tennis in a match.

My goal is to call that up ”.

His opponent Carreño Busta is a surprise semi-finalist.

The

benefited in the round of 16 from the sensational disqualification of the title favorite

.

US Open: Alexander Zverev waves dream final with Dominic Thiem

In the quarter-finals, he threw the Canadian

out - which was a little surprise.

Zverev first met the Spaniard, in 2018 there was a 2-0 success.

If the German wins the semifinals, the final could lead to a duel with his friend and long-term rival

.

After some impressively strong performances, the Austrian is arguably the biggest favorite to win the tournament.

With the world number fifth

, Thiem has a stronger opponent than Zverev.

In the run-up to the semi-finals, Zverev had to take criticism from a tennis legend.

(epp)