French Open 2021: Alexander Zverev thrashes Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, reaches the semifinals for the first time in Paris
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Alexander Zverev
World No.6, Alexander Zverev continues his dominant run at the 2021 French Open beating first timer Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. Zverev got the better of Fokina in straight sets 6-4,6-1,6-1 and in the process, has reached the semifinals on the Parisian Clay for the first time.
Zverev is on a very dominant run in Paris. He has dropped just 6 games each in the fourth round as well as quarterfinals. He has been hitting very well and is making minimum errors. If he manages to play at the same intensity, he will be a serious threat to any of his opponents.
Both the players had a poor start and exchanged breaks right away. They manages to hold serve for a couple of games but again, the exchange of breaks continued and eventually after 3 exchanges each, Zverev got the decisive break to win the set 6-4.
After a rather slow start, Zverev picked up his pace and started hitting cleanly from the baseline second set onwards. Fokina only manages to hold serve once, and lost 5 games in a row. Sascha won the second set comfortably 6-1 in 26 minutes. The third set seemed like a repeat of the second. Again Fokina managed to hold serve just once and lost 4 games in a row thereafter. Zverev showed no mercy and clinched the set 6-1 in just 21 minutes.
“Just being in the semifinals doesn’t satisfy me”: Alexander Zverev
In the on court interview, Zverev spoke about reaching the semifinals for Roland Garros for the first time and how he is hungry to go all the way.
Sascha said: “It’s very nice to be in semifinals but just being here doesn’t satisfy me. I know I am playing pretty okay and I hope I can continue playing the same way maybe even better in the semifinals.”
Zverev was all praises for his quarterfinal opponent, Alejandro Fokina. He added the key changes that worked for him from the second set onwards. “After the first set, my baseline game improved a lot. I started dominating the points much more. In the beginning I didn’t play well. He[Fokina] is somebody who has improved a lot over the past year and a half. He is climbing up the rankings very quickly. It is his first quarterfinal of a grandslam and I’m sure its not the last.”
Zverev will now face either Daniil Medvedev or Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semifinals on Thursday.
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Lakshya Chopra
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