The German tennis player Alexander Zverev defeated the Hungarian Fabian Marozsan this Thursday and advanced to the semifinals of the Masters 1000 de Miami. Zverev, number 5 in the ATP ranking, put an end to Marozsan’s (57th) surprising run in the tournament by beating him 6-3 and 7-5 at the start of Thursday’s program. Winner of five titles in the Masters 1000 category, The German still hasn’t given up a set in Miami.
Zverev, 26, advanced to his seventeenth Masters 1000 semifinal and second in Miami, six years after losing in the final against American John Isner. To achieve this, he had to stop the unexpected run of Marozsan, who had become one of the great sensations of the tournament by eliminating two members of the ATP Top 10: the Danish Holger Rune (7th) and the Australian Alex de Minaur (10th).
The Hungarian, who will enter the top-50 for the first time at 24 years old, had already proven to be a dangerous rival for the best rackets on the circuit with his notable victory last year over Alcaraz at the Rome Masters 1000. In the first duel between the two, Zverev did not allow himself to be surprised by Marozsan and offered a careful performance in service that allowed him to take the initiative in both sets.
The Hungarian trailed from his early loss of serve at the start of the first set and then made it easy for the German to take the set with a final double fault. In the second he settled better on the court, but he did not take advantage of the only break ball he had and Zverev, very effective on serve, won the duel after one hour and 37 minutes of play.
“I’m happy to be back in these final stages of these tournaments, playing against the best players in the world,” the German congratulated himself, in contrast to an argument he experienced with the chair umpire when he received a warning for delaying serving when it was 2-2 and 40-40 in the second set.
Umpire Greg Allensworth sanctioned the warning due to the delay of the world number 5 and Zverev reacted immediately, in a situation that later spread towards the stand behind him, with the German saying that he was waiting for the wind to calm down before making the service. “We are not delayed because there is wind,” the judge responded, while the public booed.
Zverev’s delay and the discussion with the judge
This Friday, Zverev will face the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who delivered the big blow of the tournament by eliminating Carlos Alcaraz. This match will be played from 8 pm in our country, with a very favorable record for the German player, who won 7 of the 8 previous matches against the Bulgarian. In fact, Dimitrov’s only success was the first time they met, almost ten years ago, at the 2014 Basel tournament.
The other semi-final in Miami will be played by Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner, in a repeat of last year’s final, in which the Russian tennis player won over the Italian.