Indian Wells (AP) — Alexander Zverev left center court as quickly as possible when the quarter-finals sealed an unexpected defeat. A short handshake with surprise winner Taylor Fritz, pointing to the referee, grab the bag and the Olympic tennis champion was gone.
Despite two match points, the 24-year-old from Hamburg lost 6:4, 3:6, 6:7 (3:7) and thus missed a big chance of a third Masters win this year at Indian Wells. «I knew I was the favorite to win the tournament after Stefano’s loss this morning. But my tennis was not there, ”said Zverev. “that hurts.”
World number three Stefanos Tsitsipas unexpectedly lost 4:6, 6:2, 4:6 to Georgia’s Nikolas Basilashvili in the quarter-finals. In the second semi-final of the hard court tournament, concluded with US$8.76 million, Bulgarians Grigor Dimitrov and Cameron Nori of Great Britain face each other.
Zverev clearly disappointed
A victory against Fritz, number 39 in the world rankings, and Zverev would have felt his hand on the trophy – it was probably not the opinion of observers of the hard court tournament in Southern California, for which former professional Tommy Haas was responsible. “I lost 7:6 in the third in a Masters that I was able to win,” Zverev said at the press conference, clearly upset. “It’s not a sensationally good feeling in me right now.”
After difficulties, especially in the second set, Zverev got a 2-0 break in the final set and with this lead he had more control over the game. However, it got really exciting when Fritz scored the first match point at 5:2 and a little later on Zverev’s serve and then 5:5, much to the delight of the fans in the second world. Largest tennis stadium.
Zverev did not like the behavior of some spectators at all. “On the one hand, there were some who always talked between the first and second serve and did not say such nice things. Then at some point I said, well, the third sentence tiebreaker, at least be respectful,” he explained. It didn’t do anything. “He played the tiebreak sensationally, I didn’t have many chances,” Zverev said of Fritz’s performance. Then he disappeared as quickly as possible.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 211016-99-615457 / 5
Alcohol maven. Incurable pop culture specialist. Communicator. Gamer. Certified explorer.