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Alexander Zverev wipes the floor dry
Photo: JUSTIN LANE / EPA
Olympic tennis champion Alexander Zverev has confidently reached the semifinals of the US Open and can continue to dream of the first Grand Slam triumph of his career.
The 24-year-old German defeated Lloyd Harris 7: 6 (8: 6), 6: 3, 6: 4 and celebrated his 16th win in a row.
After a good two hours, Zverev transformed the match point against the unseeded South African, who was able to keep up, especially in the contested first set.
In the semifinals, the world number four will now face top favorites Novak Djokovic from Serbia or Matteo Berrettini from Italy.
"I hope it will take eight hours and 30 minutes for them to crawl across the square and for me to reach the final," joked Zverev afterwards.
With the renewed three-set success, Zverev was able to save some energy for the upcoming duel - so far he has only lost one set in the entire tournament.
After winning tournaments at the Summer Games in Tokyo and Cincinnati, Zverev is now in the top four at a Grand Slam tournament for the fourth time in his career.
In 2020 he failed in the final in New York against Austrian Dominic Thiem.
Harris was initially unimpressed by Zverev's self-confident appearance.
With a forehand return, the world number 46 made it.
the first break of the game to 5: 3.
Zverev quickly recovered from his only third loss of service in the tournament and came back with a powerful game and good length in his balls.
Then Zverev has to wipe
In the tie-break, the German number one scolded several times about the changing image settings on a large screen, which made him feel disturbed. Since the technical problem could not be resolved, referee Louise Azemar Engzell briefly interrupted the game for Harris at set point. The South African lost his concept, Zverev secured the first set with a strong serve after 49 minutes. Harris then thundered two bottles into the square in anger, both of which opened. Zverev took it with humor and helped dry the blue background with a towel.
At the last meeting three weeks ago in the second round of Zverev's Masters victory in Cincinnati, he had won the first set against Harris in the tie-break.
And even now, the curious scene with Zverev's wiping operation did not cause a break in his game, although he indicated back problems during the breaks.
He immediately took the serve from his opponent, Harris missed some opportunities, so that Zverev also secured the second round.
Zverev now had a solid performance to quickly lead 4-0.
Once again, Harris shortened to 3: 4 with regained strength from his point of view - but Zverev could not be denied the success.
jan / dpa