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By Chris Oddo | Saturday May 19, 2018


On a day when he was the undercard in Rome, Alexander Zverev showed once again why he deserves to be on the short list of contenders that could win Roland Garros if for some strange reason Rafael Nadal did not.

More Roma: Nadal Wins Episode 51 of Djokovic v Nadal

Over four hours after Nadal had taken care of his business in Rome by defeating Novak Djokovic in front of a packed, appreciative crowd at the Foro Italico, Zverev booked his spot in the final with a gritty 7-6(13), 7-5 victory over Marin Cilic of Croatia.

It was his tour-leading 30th of the season, and places him in his fifth career Masters 1000 final, all of which have come since last May.

For the German all wins are of the gritty variety right now, and that is because he has now won 13 consecutive matches in a whirlwind May that has taken him from Munich to Madrid and now Rome where he is the defending champion.

Playing that much tennis on red clay can be tough on the body and that much was made clear on Saturday evening when Zverev sought the attention of a trainer to rub down his achy right shoulder after he saved five set points and converted his fourth to grab an intense first set from the Croatian.

The 21-year-old seemed to be no worse for the wear, albeit a bit sluggish in the second set, when he dropped his serve early and fell behind 2-0. But as he’s done all month, Zverev slowly and methodically took control of the match by winning more than his fair share of the bigger points.


"It was very tough. It's always tough playing Marin. He's one of the best players on Tour right now," Zverev said, according to ATPWorldTour.com. "He knows what it takes to win the big matches in the big moments so I had to play my best to get the win today."

That’s how he won the opening set, though he did need the assistance of a bevy of errors from the Croatian during the tiebreaker, and that is how Zverev took the match—by knowing when to dial in his focus and strike meaningful blows. He recovered the break, converting his third break point of the eighth game of the second set to level at 4-all, and held serve until another big opportunity presented itself in the 12th game of the second set.

It was than that he played the type of lights-out defense typically reserved for men half a foot shorter than he, and the rangy, gazelle-like German converted his second match point with a pinpoint volley that sailed past Cilic, ending the contest in two hours and one minute.


He’ll be fatigued, having to face Nadal in the final just about 18 hours after signing off with his 10th consecutive victory at Rome, but it could have been worse if he had needed a third set to get past Cilic.

"There's not much you need to say about him,” Zverev said as he looked ahead to facing the King of Clay Nadal, whom he has an 0-4 lifetime record against. “He's won so many tournaments on this surface, won the French Open 10 times, so I'm definitely not the favourite in this matchup. But hopefully I'll be ready for it. I'll do everything I can to recover and we'll see tomorrow how it goes."

 

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