(New York) Alexander Zverev, 12th in the world, eliminated Jannik Sinner (6th) in the round of 16 of the United States Open, handicapped by thigh pain, after a 4:41 duel completed on the night of Monday to Tuesday with a score of 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
“This is the longest match of my career at the U.S. Open… This is what I live for, this is what I love. Last year, when I couldn’t play, that’s exactly what I missed: finishing in the middle of the night, such a long and difficult match, in front of the Arthur-Ashe court crowd,” said l ‘German.
He missed the tournament last year due to a serious right ankle injury that occurred in the semi-finals at Roland Garros against Rafael Nadal.
“In the fourth set I thought I was finished, but I got some energy back from the crowd,” he admitted.
The 26-year-old German, finalist at Flushing Meadows in 2020, will face defending champion Carlos Alcaraz for a place in the last four and deprives Sinner of a rematch against the Spaniard.
Last year in the quarterfinals, Alcaraz beat Sinner after a titanic match in five sets, before finally winning the tournament, his first Grand Slam title, and becoming the youngest world No.1 in history .
On Monday evening, the tone was set from the start: after an hour of play, the players were still 4-4 in the first set and Zverev ended up breaking to lead 5-4 and serve for the set that he pocketed after 68 minutes of a tough battle.
But he immediately left the advantage to Sinner in the second set (2-0). At 3-0, after another spectacular game, Sinner had his left thigh massaged.
However, he managed to equalize at one set everywhere.
With his opponent clearly increasingly handicapped by sore thighs, Zverev broke to lead 4-2 to win the third set.
At the end of this set, Sinner took a bathroom break to get a massage from the physio.
On the return, even though he was not really recovered, he continued to hang on: the first game lasted 14 minutes and the Italian had four balls to make the break but in the end it was Zverev who kept his face-off on his fifth play ball.
Zverev then began to show signs of fatigue too, his face tense, the movements much heavier.
Sinner took advantage of that: he broke through to break away 5-4 and serve to tie from two sets all.
In this fourth set at loggerheads, a spectator was expelled from the Arthur-Ashe court: “He said the most famous sentence about Hitler, it’s unacceptable,” Zverev complained to the referee.
The German took his opponent’s serve from the start to lead 2-0 in the deciding set. Then he confirmed this break at the end of another interminable game (12 minutes) and, while he returned to his bench, Sinner remained for a few seconds lying on the court short of breath.
Despite fatigue and pain, the two men went blow for blow until the end, but Zverev managed to maintain his advantage and earned his ticket to the quarterfinals on his first match point.
Alcaraz must have rubbed his hands when he saw, or learned, how difficult his next opponent was to qualify. Will Zverev have recovered from this grueling duel when it comes time to face one of the most physical players in history?
“I’m here to play. I don’t know how it will end, but I will do my best,” Zverev promised.