Zverev reaches semis, slams door on Nadal
LONDON – Defending champion Alexander Zverev secured the last semifinal spot at the ATP Finals on Friday, eliminating Rafael Nadal in the process.
Zverev beat already eliminated Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 7-6 (4) at the O2 Arena to finish second behind Stefanos Tsitsipas in the group and set up a semifinal against Dominic Thiem.
Earlier, Nadal stayed in contention by rallying to beat Tsitsipas 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-5 for his second win of the round-robin stage.
But Zverev’s win left him, Nadal, and Tsitispas with identical 2-1 records – with the top-ranked Spaniard eliminated based on the tournament’s tiebreaker rules.
It means only one of tennis’ Big Three made the semifinals as Novak Djokovic was also eliminated on Thursday. Tsitsipas will face six-time champion Roger Federer in the first semifinal on Saturday.
“The young guys have been playing much better tennis than they were maybe last year,” Zverev said. “Nobody expected (Nadal) to be out from our group. Our group was very, very difficult, and for me and Stefanos to qualify, I don’t think a lot of people would have picked (that).”
Medvedev (0-3) had only pride to play for against Zverev and was broken in the opening game. The Russian largely held his own after that but couldn’t force a single break point and double-faulted to go 5-3 down in the second-set tiebreaker. Zverev converted his first match point with an ace. The seventh-ranked German had a major breakthrough in winning last year’s tournament, beating Federer in the semifinals and Djokovic in the final. He’ll come up against Thiem, who impressed by beating those same two players in the group phase this week.
“He’s playing unbelievable tennis, and it’s going to be a very difficult match,” Zverev said. “Honestly, I’m just happy to be in the semis, and from here on we’ll just see how it goes.”
Tsitsipas had already secured a semifinal spot by winning his opening two matches but still pushed Nadal to the wire in a match that lasted nearly three hours.
That effort could cost him against Federer, who needed only 1 hour, 13 minutes to beat Novak Djokovic in his final group-stage match on Thursday and spent Friday resting up.