ATP Finals: Zverev enters the semi-finals with a strong performance, Federer is waiting for him there

Alexander Zverev won his last group match against John Isner 7:6 (5), 6:3 and is now in the semi-finals of the ATP Finals in London for the first time. There he will meet Roger Federer on Saturday.

By Florian Goosmann from London

Zverev and Isner are two who know and like each other – so what could be more obvious than that Zverev gave his buddy Isner a little pre-match present? Zverev had just won the coin toss around the serve and decided on the return. “You didn’t have to do that,” flattest Isner – and they both laughed.

The 2.08-meter man from the USA nevertheless accepted Zverev’s gesture gratefully and served himself up quickly for a 1-0 win, but Zverev was also a little behind – on the contrary. The numbers after sentence one: 77 percent first serves (long time over 80!), 83 percent points won when the first one came, 56 percent points won when the second one came – plus significantly less simple mistakes, almost the same number of winners and more aces than Isner … and yet it almost went wrong. Because it was Isner who, from his point of view, forced the German to make his debut at 6:5 for the first time and took the first set point. Zverev, however, remained ice-cold and fended off with an ace.

In the tiebreak, Isner finally pulled two forehands to Zverev’s set win, which wildly gesticulated the audience. For Isner, the set loss already meant the safe end for his first participation in the ATP Finals.

Zverev remained concentrated in the second set as well, playing his first break point at 4-3 and using it directly with a deep ball on the feet of the forward stormed Isner. Shortly afterwards the victory was perfect – and with it the semi-final. Zverev is the first German player since Rainer Schüttler to reach the semi-finals of the unofficial World Cup, and the future Kerber coach did so in Houston in 2003.

Zverev’s performance: simply concentrated and strong. In the end there were 25 winners on both sides, but the Hamburg player made only 10 easy mistakes, Isner twice as many. Crazy: 18 aces boarded Zverev on the opposite side, serve giant Isner “only” gets 10 pieces.

“Watch the ATP Finals in Germany now and be there live for only € 9,99 with the Sky Ticket until the end of December. Just cancel monthly.”

Zverev will finish his group second, behind Novak Djokovic. His match against Marin Cilic in the evening has no meaning for the outcome of the group matches.

In the semifinals on Saturday Zverev will meet Roger Federer (from 15 o’clock CET) and Djokovic Kevin Anderson (from 21 o’clock CET).

“Watch the ATP Finals in Austria now and be there live for only € 9,99 with the Sky Ticket until the end of December. Just cancel monthly.”

The ATP Finals group stands at a glance