New York, Sep 8 (IANS) Top-seed Alexander Zverev battled past Italy’s Luciano Darderi in round of 16 to book his ticket into the quarterfinal, as Botic van de Zandschulp saved a match point to beat Arthur Gea to enter the last eight at the US Open.
Zverev, who started his quest for his second Major with two gruelling five-set wins, cruised past the 21st seed 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (3) at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, as he has now reached at least the quarterfinals of all four Majors this year.
The reigning Roland Garros champion seems to be improving with each match now, as he won 86 per cent of his first serves and also dominated the second-serve wins with 72% victory on them. He also broke the Italian four times in the game and faced just one break point in the entirety of the game.
He took control of the first set and started the game when he broke Darderi before keeping hold of his serves and pocketed the opening set despite facing a break point late in the opener to take an early lead.
The German kept his foot on the pedal in the second one too as Darderi struggled with his first serve. Zverev took full advantage and started the second with a double break and kept motoring his way on serves as he pocketed the second one too.
Darderi showed better fight in the third set as he did not let the German boss it and instead kept holding his serve; however, he could not force the German to drop his serve as things went to the tiebreaker, where Zverev held his composure for a comfortable win.
Meanwhile, things were much more intense between van de Zandschulp and Gea as the two unseeded players fought tooth and nail in an intense five-hour and 13-minute battle, which is now the fourth longest match in the US Open on record. But Zandschulp made a strong comeback from two sets down and saved a match point for a 3-6, 6-7(0), 7-6(7), 7-6(3), 6-4 win.
Gea would be regretting it big time, as he had a match point on his serve at 6/5 in the third set, but a backhand volley error cost him as the Dutchman clinched the third set as he mounted a strong comeback following his losing the first two sets. Gea was also serving for the match at 5-4 in the fourth set but was broken as Zandschulp clinched a nail-biter.
“I have no clue, actually,” van de Zandschulp said on his comeback. “It wasn’t going my way in the beginning. I think it was a sloppy match a little bit, but he started to play well at some point.
“For me, I was looking for my form. Haven’t found it yet, but hopefully in a couple of days I find it. It’s been a crazy comeback. Five hours, [almost] 15 minutes. Still standing, so that’s a good thing,” he added.
Zverev and Zandschulp will now battle in the quarterfinal for a place in the semifinals.
–IANS
vm/bc
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