Beaming Zverev is finally a major hit
The only person capable of solving the mystery of why Alex Zverev could not progress in Grand Slam events was the young German himself.
The world No 3, serial collector of Masters titles, has struggled to justify his future world No 1 tag by continually failing to go beyond the last 16 at the tournaments where it matters most.
That changed yesterday when he finally made it to a quarter-final, and nobody could claim he had rid himself of being a major choker the easy way.
Beating the hulking 22-year-old russian Karen Khachanov 4-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 represented his third straight five- set victory, no easy physical feat on clay.
his next match, against Austria’s Dominic Thiem, may well be the one that produces an opponent for rafael Nadal in next Sunday’s final, assuming the Spaniard makes it through. Novak Djokovic could also have a say in who emerges from the bottom half of the draw.
Zverev’s physical improvement suggests years of work with British trainer Jez Green are starting to pay off.
Green was one of the trainers most involved with turning Andy Murray into the uber athlete he was before being struck down by hip issues, and he has tried to do the same with the wirier 21-year-old.
Zverev (right) has acquired a reputation for being surly but has shown a more likeable side here through his bromance with Yorkshire radio reporter Jonathan Pinfield.
‘I fall in love with your accent more every day. That’s what I’m falling in love with,’ he said afterwards, when asked if he was acquiring a love for Paris.
he also angrily denied being illegally coached from the stands, for which he received a warning.
‘I was on the other side of the court,’ he claimed. ‘I don’t think my dad or anybody in my box can say something that I would hear inside that big stadium, so for me it was nonsense.’
Djokovic came through 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 against Spain’s Fernando Verdasco, who needed treatment for blisters on his feet. The Serb has reached the stage he managed last year without looking back to his imperious best.
he has the bonus now of facing this year’s rank outsider who has bolted from the pack, 25-year- old Sicilian Marco Cecchinato.
The world No 72 caused a real upset when he defeated No 8 seed David Goffin 7-5, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3.
Cecchinato had never even won a match at a Grand Slam prior to this week and was best known for a brush with the match-fixing authorities, who fined him €40,000 but then quashed it on appeal.
Jo Konta is safely back in england, having pulled out of the mixed doubles here to prepare for the coming grasscourt season, and her first-round exit last week is looking a little more respectable.
The player who beat her, Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva, is through to the last eight after beating Barbora Strycova and will now face beaten US Open finalist Madison Keys.
Flushing Meadows champion Sloane Stephens, whose form has been erratic since September, is also through to the quarter-finals.