German tennis star Alexander Zverev has made it clear he is determined to make it all the way this week at the Monte Carlo Masters.
Zverev, who is enjoying a career-high ranking of No. 3 in the world, has won every clay Masters except Monte Carlo.
On Thursday, Zverev defeated Pablo Carreno Busta 6-2 7-5 to progress into the Monte Carlo quarterfinal.
Zverev is bidding to reach his second Monte Carlo semifinal.
In 2018, Zverev reached the Monte Carlo semifinal before losing to Kei Nishikori in three sets.
“This is the only Masters on clay I haven’t won yet, but I’m very motivated to do so,” Zverev said, per the ATP website. “I’m very motivated to play great tennis and I hope I can show that on court this week.”
Zverev glad with the performance he delivered
Zverev got broken in the opening game of the match but responded with breaks in the second, fourth and eighth games to win the first set.
Carreno Busta also started the second set with a break but Zverev responded with breaks in the sixth and 12th games to overturn the deficit and claim a straight-set win.
Zverev kept a perfect head-to-head against Carreno Busta as he now has three wins and zero losses against the Spaniard.
“For the second clay-court match of the season, I can’t complain too much,” Zverev said in his on-court interview. “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.”
Zverev was going for his shots against Carreno Busta and after the match mentioned that playing defensively won’t get him too far.
“To win the biggest tournaments in the world, like Masters series, like Grand Slams, you have to be aggressive,” Zverev said. “I’m not going to win big titles just by pushing the ball.”
Zverev plays next Jannik Sinner, who defeated Andrey Rublev.