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German tennis player Alexander Zverev reached the final of a Grand Slam tournament at the US Open for the first time in his career. The 23-year-old Hamburg won a thrilling five-set match against Spaniard Pablo Carreño Busta on Friday in New York after 3: 6, 2: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4, 6: 3.
In Sunday’s final, the seventh in the world rankings will face last year’s Russian finalist Daniil Medwedew or Australian Open finalist Dominic Thiem of Austria. In Melbourne, Zverev had reached a Grand Slam semi-final for the first time earlier this year, but lost to Thiem before the tour was cut short for months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
First German since Stich
For the first time in history, he posted a 2-0 deficit on set and was the first German tennis player since Michael Stich in 1994 to reach the final at Flushing Meadows. “I couldn’t believe it when I fell 2-0 as the favorite. He didn’t know what was going on, but he knew he had to play better tennis. I’m in my first Grand Slam final, that’s the most important thing, ”Zverev said after 3:22 hours in the winner’s interview on the field.
He was miserable in the game against the world number 27. started. “He’s not in balance with the basic shots,” was the analysis of three-time Wimbledon winner Boris Becker on Eurosport television. The world number 27 passed to 1: 3. from Gijón in the first set Zverev played the service game. When the German’s backhand landed on the net at 40 minutes, the first round was decided. In the second set it got even worse: Zverev received a break in the first game. He struggled, but former top ten Carreño Busta knew the best answer to everything and played solid and calm.
En route to his first Grand Slam final, Carreño Busta was indirectly involved in the scandal surrounding world number one Novak Djokovic. In Sunday’s round of 16, the Spaniard caused problems for the best Serbian player and took his serve to 6: 5 in the first set. Djokovic then hit the ball without looking back and hit the linesman, who fell and clearly had breathing problems. Djokovic was disqualified, Carreño Busta reached the quarterfinals, in which he defeated Canadian Denis Shapovalov in five sets.
Return transformed
“I think Sascha is the favorite. He is flying as it is his second Grand Slam semi-final. I don’t think I feel the pressure, ”Becker said before the game, but initially he was not well. After losing the second set, Zverev left the venue for a short time and returned completely transformed. He got stronger now, played with more precision and made fewer mistakes.
With the set win at 6: 3, hope sprouted again. In the fourth round it was briefly unpleasant when Carreño Busta hit a hard ball directly into Zverev’s body with a score of 3: 5. The Spaniard immediately apologized, but Zverev looked over the net with a mixture of incomprehension and irreconciliation. . With an ace, Zverev finally used his fourth set to equalize 2-2.
Before the fifth set, Carreño Busta had to be treated on his back and took a three-minute medical break. Zverev took advantage of this weak phase and immediately went ahead 1-0 with a break. Zverev left the first match point unused a little later, then a backhand from the Spaniard landed at the net.
