The second seed, who earned both his 50th tour-level victory of the season and 300th tour-level career win this week, was at his impressive best on Saturday.
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Alexander Zverev stormed into his fifth tour-level final of the season on Saturday at the Erste Bank Open, producing a high-quality performance against a rising star. The German overcame Carlos Alcaraz 6-3, 6-3 to end the 18-year-old Spaniard’s brilliant run in Vienna. The second seed, who earned both his 50th tour-level victory of the season and 300th tour-level career win this week, was at his impressive best on Saturday. He hit with great depth and impressively soaked up Alcaraz’s power to advance after 68 minutes. The 24-year-old now leads Alcaraz 2-0 in their ATP Head-2-Head series. Besides, he holds a 24-2 record since Wimbledon – clinching the Olympic singles gold medal and the Cincinnati title in that period.
“I finally found my rhythm from the baseline because I was really struggling,” Zverev said. “I didn’t feel the ball well and I spent some time on the court after the match yesterday and warmed up for an hour and a half before the match today and I finally got it. I am happy with how things are going and hopefully I can get another win tomorrow. The Olympics was the key factor. The match against Novak [Djokovic] made me believe that I can win any tournament I can play.”
Next up, Zverev will face either seventh seed Jannik Sinner or qualifier Frances Tiafoe in the title clash. The German bids to win his fifth tour-level crown of the season, having also triumphed in Acapulco and Madrid.
Taylor Fritz continues to maintain his impressive form of late at the St. Petersburg Open, beating Jan-Lennard Struff 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 to reach his first tour-level final of the season. “It is amazing to have people cheering for me when I am so far away from home. I love all of the support,” Fritz said in his on-court interview.
Recently, the American player had defeated World No. 4 Alexander Zverev en route to his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final in October. He then continued that positive run in St. Petersburg, dropping just one set at the ATP 250 event.
Fritz produced a strong serving display against Struff, as he fought back from a set down to advance after one hour and 58 minutes. Thereby, he leveled their ATP Head-2-Head series at 1-1. The fifth seed will face qualifier Botic van de Zandschulp or Croatian Marin Cilic in the championship match.
“I played pretty well for a lot of parts in the first set but a couple of things didn’t go my way. I went up a break but then didn’t have the best service game and got broken back,” Fritz said in his on-court interview. “I had another chance to break and then got broken from 40/15 up. I recovered and brought it together and played a really solid second and third set.”
