By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, September 8, 2021
Alexander Zverev saved set point in the opener topping Lloyd Harris 7-6(6), 6-3, 6-4 to score his 16th straight win and charge into his second US Open semifinal.
Photo credit: Darren Carroll/USTA/US Open
Cleaning the lines at times, Alexander Zverev put down his racquet to help mop up the court today.
Zverev dodged a spot of stress when Lloyd Harris served for the opening set, then cleaned up at crunch time sweeping to his 16th straight win 7-6(6), 6-3, 6-4 to charge into his second straight US Open semifinal.
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The Olympic gold medal champion cracked 21 aces, including his final ace on match point, and won 12 of 15 trips to net scoring his 11th US Open win in his last 12 Flushing Meadows matches. Zverev helped Harris mop up wet spots on the court after the South African hurled his water bottle in disgust and spent much of the rest of the match manicuring the court with deep drives.
“He was serving incredible—I didn’t have a lot of chances on his serve,” Zverev told ESPN’s James Blake in his on-court interview afterward. “Somehow, I managed to win that first set. It loosened me up a little bit and I started playing a lot better.
“In the third set he started swinging. He started playing better tennis so I’m thrilled to be through in three.”
The thrill factor could erupt with a potential semifinal showdown vs. Novak Djokovic. If world No. 1 Djokovic beats Matteo Berrettini in tonight’s final quarterfinal that’s a rematch of the Wimbledon final, then the top-seeded Serbian will face Zverev for a spot in Sunday’s final.
Amping up his aggression, Zverev streaked through 10 of the last 11 games shocking Wimbledon Djokovic 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 to power into the Tokyo Olympics gold-medal match in July. Zverev said he will be watching Djokovic vs. Berrettini tonight and he’s rooting for fatigue.
“I am gonna watch it like everybody else,” Zverev said. “I guess same as last match: I hope it goes on for eight hours and 30 minutes and again they’re gonna curl up and be very tired and that’s what I’m going for.”
A year ago, Zverev was two points from the US Open title only to see Dominic Thiem fight his way into history as the first man in Open Era history to win a US Open from two sets down in the final. Zverev made ignominious history himself becoming the first man to win a US Open semifinal from two sets down then lose the final from two sets up. Clearly, the German feels he has unfinished business in New York.
“I played the final last year in front of exactly six people so it was a little weird for me,” Zverev said. “It’s incredible to have the New York crowd back.
“I think the energy of the stadium, the energy of the people we missed it for over a year all over the world. So it’s good to see the world is going slowly back to normality. Sports are emotion but the spectators are the ones who give the emotion…It’s going to be an exciting semi.”
Talk about transformation. Earlier in his career, Zverev had a reputation as a talented player who struggled to deliver dynamic tennis in Grand Slams. Now, Zverev has reached Grand Slam semifinals in four of his last seven major appearances, including a run to the Roland Garros final four in June.
The turning point of today’s quarterfinal came early. Harris served for the opening set at 5-3, but Zverev responded winning eight of the next nine points leveling at 5-5.
Harris held set point at 6-5, but failed to convert on a forehand. After Zverev requested the big screen stop showing the prior point replay as it was creating visual distraction, Harris framed a forehand and bounced his racquet in disgust handing Zverev a set point. The South African shanked another forehand as Zverev snatched the 50-minute first set that was in Harris’ hands moments earlier.
An angry Harris tossed his water bottle down in disgust and it splashed all over the court prompting both players, the chair umpire and the ball crew to drew the wet patch on the court with white towels.
Clean up was successful, but Harris couldn’t rebottle lost opportunity. Scraping a forehand drop shot wide, the South African dumped serve for the second time in the second game of the second set.
The fourth-seeded Zverev clutched at his lower back apparently tweaking it leaping for a smash. Still, Zverev held firm at 15 for a 3-0 second-set lead.
Turning his shoulders into his shots and swinging with more vigor, Zverev was untroubled on serve for the rest of the set. The 2020 US Open finalist fired down a serve winner building a two-set lead.
The toll of his lost set-point opportunity in the opener combined with the pressure of playing his first major quarterfinal conspired to wreak havoc with Harris’ accuracy. The South African jerked a backhand well wide to gift the break in the opening game of the third set.
The world No. 4 surged out to a 4-0 lead and looked poised to make quick work of the set. Credit Harris for digging down and battling back with some of his finest strikes of the day. Harris reeled off 10 points in a row closing to 3-4 and shifting pressure right back on the German.
Serving at 30-all, Zverev slashed successive aces—his 18th and 19th of the day—extending his lead to 5-3.
Serving for the semifinals, Zverev opened with an ace then closed the victory with a 136 mph exclamation point ace for his second straight trip to the final four.