Zverev one step closer to ‘dream’ with victory over Paul

On By Littum

At the finish line, showing no signs of the bicep strain that forced him to withdraw from the United Cup, Zverev fired his seventh ace of the match to secure victory. The German won 72 percent of first serve points and posted a first serve average of 207 km/h, almost 20 km/h faster than Paul’s 188 km/h. His second serve average was faster by a larger margin: 176 km/h to 144 km/h.

Paul acknowledged that Zverev outplayed him on clutch points.

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“He picks up his level in the big moments and unfortunately my level dropped in the big moments today,” said the 27-year-old, whose silver lining is a career-high top 10 debut next week.

“I’ve just got to close out those sets – that’s what the top players do so well, when they’re on the front foot, they do a great job of closing out big sets or other sets and that’s what I didn’t do well today.”

The American was aware of his expensive and exorbitant number of errors, which numbered 56, 20 more than Zverev’s. “You can’t have that when you’re playing guys who are No. 2 in the world at the Slams,” Paul said.

Zverev’s 30th win at Melbourne Park moves him ahead of Boris Becker and sets the record for most AO singles wins by a German player. By reaching a ninth Grand Slam semifinal, he is now tied with Daniil Medvedev and Stan Wawrinka for the most semifinal berths among active players, although the trio trails Novak Djokovic by a wide margin.

Ahead of his third AO semifinal on Friday, Zverev is laser-focused. “I will do everything I can to be in another (final) on Sunday,” he said. “Lifting the trophy is what I’m thinking about.”

“I want to achieve my dream of winning a Grand Slam, and I’m chasing that.”

World no. 2’s opponent will be decided by tonight’s blockbuster quarter-final with Carlos Alcaraz and Djokovic, a clash that Zverev agrees deserves the hype.

“It’s probably the highlight of the whole tournament,” he said. “Two of the greatest players to ever touch a tennis racket. Novak is the greatest ever right now, Carlos will be one of them when he hangs it up, so it’s a clash of generations.”

“It’s a privilege to witness it in Australia.”