Alexander Zverev got the better of Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday at Melbrone in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open. The German won in four sets (6-3, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4) against the Spaniard. Zverev thus reaches the semi-finals of the Australian Graned Slam tournament for the second time in his career, after 2020 and a defeat against the Austrian Dominic Thiem.
The number 6 seed showed an impressive level of play from the start, while Alcaraz missed out on the first set. When winning the first set, the German did not celebrate, displaying a focused look. In difficulty, the Spaniard encouraged himself as much as possible, clenching his fist after the slightest exchange won. If Alcaraz has won more than one spectacular rally, the decisive points have often gone to the German’s advantage.
Aggressive very early in the exchange, Zverev dictated the tempo. Overwhelmed, Alcaraz, a double Grand Slam winner, showed signs of frustration in the second set, coming close to throwing his racket when losing his serve. But the Iberian woke up in the third set.
Trailing 5 games to 2, Alcaraz was more aggressive and mobile, going after all the German’s balls. He made the difference in the tie-break on sensational points, in front of a delirious crowd. The world number 2 regained the upper hand, but the German held on before breaking at 4-4 in the fourth and final set.
Medvedev dismisses Hurkacz
Earlier in the day, Russian Daniil Medvedev defeated Pole Hubert Hurkacz and also qualified for the semi-finals. In a 4-hour fight, the world number 3 won in five sets (7-6, 2-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4). The number 9 seed, winner of Frenchman Arthur Cazaux in the previous round, gave the Russian a hard time. Trailing two sets to one and 2-4 in the fourth set, Medvedev raised his voice on serve (7 aces), while converting the two break points available to him to make up for his deficit.
The runner-up in 2021 and 2022 made his experience speak for himself, while the Pole’s success on serve dropped considerably. In a contested fifth set, the two players only got one break point each. Daniil Medvedev seized this opportunity, Hubert Hurkacz let it slip away. The world number 3 has left feathers, but he qualifies for the last four of the Australian Open for the third time in four years.
La surprise Dayana Yastremska
She enjoys it so much on the courts of Melbourne Park that she prolongs the pleasure. The Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska, from qualifying, played and won her eighth match at the 2024 Australian Open, Wednesday January 24, to reach her first Grand Slam semi-final. The 93rd player in the world dismissed in two sets (6-3, 6-4) the Czech Linda Noskova (50th), who, at 19, had overthrown the world number 1, Iga Swiatek, in the 3rd round.
At 23, Dayana Yastremska becomes the second player from qualifying to reach the final four at the Australian Open in the Open era (since 1968), after Christine Dorey in 1978. “It’s nice to write the ‘story, I wasn’t even born at that time,’ smiled the Odessa native.
For a place in the final, she will face Chinese Qinwen Zheng, seeded number 15. The 21-year-old overthrew Russian Anna Kalinskaya (75th) in three sets (6-7, 6-3, 6-1) to offer himself a first Grand Slam semi-final of his career.
On her Australian hunt, Dayana Yastremska has already knocked down the Czech Marketa Vondrousova, 7th in the world and surprise winner of Wimbledon in 2023, in the first round, and the Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, former world number 1 now 22nd, in the round of 16 of final. Before the Australian fortnight, Yastremska had never made it past the round of 16 at a Grand Slam (at Wimbledon in 2019).
Yastremska, who climbed to the top 20 in 2019 and 2020, before slipping outside the top 100, was cleared in June 2021 on appeal after a positive doping test initially sanctioned by a suspension.
The poster for the other semi-final is already known: it will be a remake of the final of the US Open 2023, between Aryna Sabalenka, world number 2 and holder of the trophy, and Coco Gauff, number 4 world and victorious in New York in 2023.
