Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas will battle in the Rome Masters semi-final on Saturday after scoring quarter-final victories. Zverev and Tsitsipas will determine the finalist for the third time at this year’s clay-court Masters 1000 events, with Tsitsipas prevailing in Monte Carlo and Zverev in Madrid. The German is through into the 15th Masters 1000 semi-final following a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Cristian Garin in an hour and 51 minutes. Alexander made the difference on the second serve, defending four out of five break chances and delivering four return games from 11 opportunities. Zverev fired 24 winners and 18 unforced errors, taming his strokes nicely and taking nine of the last 11 games to sail over the top. The Chilean built a slight advantage in the more extended rallies, and the German erased that with a superb performance in the shortest exchanges up to four strokes. Alexander defended two break points in the opener’s sixth game and grabbed a break in the next one with a strong backhand down the line return.
Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev will battle in the Rome semi-final.
Garin broke back in game eight and fended off a break chance in the next one to open a 5-4 gap. Zverev stayed calm and broke at love in game 11 following the rival’s loose backhand. The German defended two break points while serving for the set and claimed the opener 7-5 with a service winner after 67 minutes. Alexander served well in set number two and earned breaks in games one and five to emerge at the top and advance into the fourth semi-final of the season. Stefanos Tsitsipas needed two hours and 27 minutes to beat the crowd’s favorite Jannik Sinner 7-6, 6-2 and reach his 11th Masters 1000 semi-final.
The Greek defended five out of six break points and grabbed three breaks from six opportunities to seal the deal in straight sets. It was a high-quality clash, with more winners than unforced errors on the tally of each player. There was nothing to separate them in the more advanced rallies, and Stefanos forged the lead in the shortest ones up to four strokes. The opening set lasted almost an hour and a half, and Stefanos built an early 3-0 advantage. Jannik erased the deficit and pushed a better-ranked opponent until the tie break. Tsitsipas landed a volley winner at 5-5 to earn a set point and fired another in the next point to bring the set home and gain a massive boost. Stefanos broke Jannik in the second set’s games three and seven to end the youngster’s resistance and book a place in the semis.