A tired Angelique Kerber is out of the tournament in Miami, but Alexander Zverev’s form curve is up before the Davis Cup duel with Spain.
When Nick Kyrgios had hit the last ball out, Alexander Zverev’s face was barely noticeably smiling. In fact, after his impressive win over the Australian and his move to the quarter-finals at the ATP tournament in Miami, he looked very serious, even when he left the field under the screaming of some fans. Zverev, they would say in America, is currently “all business” – which means: It’s all about business for him. About winning.
“I’m obviously very pleased with the way I played,” Zverev said after the confident and never-endangered 6-4, 6-4 over Kyrgios. It seems that after a bumpy year so far, things are looking up steadily with the best German tennis player – good news also with a view to the quarter-finals in the Davis Cup (6th place). till 8. April) in Valencia. Without a Zverev in top form Germany hardly has a chance of a surprise in the duel with Spain for superstar Rafael Nadal.
Against Kyrgios, against whom he now equalled 3-3 in direct comparison, Zverev showed a strong improvement in Miami after the tri-set wins over Daniil Medvedev (Russia) and David Ferrer (Spain). Above all: very concentrated, “all business” in other words. The match lasted only 70 minutes, and only in the first set, when Kyrgios could shorten from 5:1 to 5:4, the fourth seeded Hamburg allowed himself a few laxities. In the second set, Kyrgios had no chance to break.
In the last eight, Zverev will face Borna Coric (Croatia). He lost his two previous duels against the number 29 in the world rankings, most recently in August in the second round of the US Open.
“He’s improved a lot. He was in the semi-finals at Indian Wells, he’s here in the quarter-finals – he’s playing great,” Zverev said respectfully. If he wins on Thursday, he will face Pablo Carreno Busta (Spain) or Kevin Anderson (South Africa) in the semi-finals.
Germany is only represented in Miami by Zverev, after Angelique Kerber had run out of breath a little. One day after the almost three-hour tour de force against the Chinese qualifier Wang Yafan, the noticeably tired Kieler was badly beaten in the quarter-finals: 1:6, 2:6 she lost to the US Open winner Sloane Stephens (USA). Despite a reasonable performance in Miami on Monday, Kerber will slip out of the top 10 of the world rankings.
Here the single tableau of the men in Miami