‘Maiden title of the season?’ Fans in shock as out-of-form Alexander Zverev eases past Pablo Carreno Busta to reach the quarterfinal of the Monte Carlo Masters
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Alexander Zverev
Is this the week Alexander Zverev finally wins his first title of the season? The German is three wins away from adding a Monte Carlo trophy to his collection, having already won in Madrid and Rome.
On Thursday, Zverev upset 13th seed Pablo Carreno Busta 6-2, 7-5 to advance to the Monte-Carlo Masters quarter-finals. For a position in the last four, the second seed will face either fifth seed Andrey Rublev or ninth seed Jannik Sinner.
“For the second clay-court match of the season, I can’t complain too much. Yes, I have lost focus a little bit in the second set, but at the end of the day, he’s somebody that can really play. I’m happy with a two-set win,” said Zverev on defeating his opponent.
Carreno Busta has already proven to be a difficult opponent for Zverev, most notably in the 2020 US Open semi-finals, when the Spaniard took the first two sets before the German could recover. However, the five-time Masters 1000 winner had too much firepower on the red clay, winning in one hour and 36 minutes.
Zverev struggled at times against Federico Delbonis in his first round but stepped up his game against Carreno Busta. The 24-year-old had more firepower and could fire strong strokes from neutral positions, but his opponent failed to put him on the back foot frequently.
What’s in store for the Alexander Zverev next?
“To win the biggest tournaments in the world, like Masters series, like Grand Slams, you have to be aggressive, I’m not going to win big titles just by pushing the ball,” said the world no. 3 after winning the match against Spaniard and world no. 19 Pablo Carreno Busta.
In the second set, Zverev dropped his serve right away, but he never panicked. In his sixth outing at Monte Carlo, he converted five of his 14 breakpoints to reach the quarter-finals for the second time. In the Principality, he is presently 10-5. The two-time Nitto ATP Finals champion was particularly impressed with his serve. Zverev won 79 percent of his first-serve points, while Carreno Busta only won 57 percent.
Zverev then added, ” It’s great because especially on a clay court, especially here where it’s a little bit slower I think than other clay courts that we play on, it is very important to get that confidence going on your serve,” Zverev said. “All around, it’s important to get these kinds of wins.”
Can the German finally win his maiden title at the Monte Carlo Open? Guess we’ll have to wait and see how the quarterfinals will fare for the world no. 3 to finally win his title.
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Harini Mahesh
(159 Articles Published)