Great stuff from Sascha Zverev that beats an in-form Kei Nishikori in 3 sets in the Washington quarters. The Japanese impressed in the previous match when he defeated Denis Shapovalov in straight sets, and it seemed as he was the favorite to win this tournament.
The match
The Japanese no.1 started the match in good fashion to break Sascha in the 6th game of the opening set before winning 6-3. However, the young German is pretty used to recover from a difficult scoreline and he stormed back in the second set to win 6-1.
Zverev looked even more solid in the decider when he broke Kei in the 5th (3-2) and 7th (5-2) game. However, the “drama” was not over as Zverev failed to serve out the match and out of the blue Nishikori won 8 consecutive points (5-4). The German had to regroup, and eventually, he won the encounter after holding his final serve at love. The final score was 3-6 6-1 6-4.
About the rain delay
The match was rather bumpy especially because of the weather. In fact, the contest had to be delayed for 2 hours and a half while Sascha was leading 3-2 (1 break up) in the decider.
The German commented
“It kind of sucks having the rain in the middle of all of your own service games, but things happen. It’ okay. We’re all used to it here by now.”
Talking about the overall experience, Sascha commented
“It was great. It was a fantastic match, a very high level from the baseline. We both played great, so happy to be through to the semi-finals. Hopefully, it will be another good few days here.”
The semis vs. Tsitsipas
Sascha will face Stefanos Tsitsipas in a match that may become a classic in the years to come. They have never played each other so far.
| IN THE SEMIS |
| Embed from Getty Images |
