Sascha Zverev celebrates his 21st birthday by reaching the Monte Carlo semifinal after a colossal battle against Richard Gasquet.
The Frenchman was in the right mood to beat “another Zverev” after he defeated Mischa, Sascha’s brother, in the previous round and the local crowd was huge support for the home favorite.
Things didn’t start well for the world no.4 after Gasquet conquered a quick 4-1 (2 breaks-up) lead that gave the decisive boost to the Frenchman to win the opener (6-4). Sascha stormed back in the second set after he got to himself a 4-1 lead to bring the affair to the decider.
The third set was extremely tight with 6 breaks in the first 8 games. The German squandered a 3-1 advantage, and Gasquet looked set to win the match after he won 3 consecutive games (4-3). However, Sascha had the mental strength to stay tough, and he found the solution to win this contest 4-6 6-2 7-5 after 2 hours and 39 minutes.
It was intense. ZVEREV
Soon after the match, a visibly happy Zverev commented
“The third set was very intense, a lot of tight moments. I feel like in the tightest moments we both played the best tennis. I’m just happy with my performance tennis-wise, also mentally-wise.
It was great. I always think in the south of France, or in France, when a French player is playing, it’s always going to be a great atmosphere. Obviously, a lot of spectators were for him, how they should be. I enjoyed it out there.”
The semis vs. Nishikori
Sascha will face the world no.36 Kei Nishikori in the semifinal. The head to head is 1-0 for the German that is the favorite to reach the final.
| IN THE FINAL 4 |
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