Paris Masters: Zverev overcomes Tsitsipas, reaches 20th Masters 1000 semi-final

German Alexander Zverev, the No 3 seed, prevailed in a tight straight sets match against Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the No 10 seed, 7-5, 6-4 to advance to the last four of Paris Masters on Friday afternoon.

The first set was dominated by the serve, with neither managing to see a break point until 5-5, which Zverev converted on the second time of asking, and broke the Greek’s serve. Zverev then had to save a break point of his own, before taking his third set point, and claiming the first set 7-5.

By looking at the serve statistics for both in the first set, it is somewhat of an accomplishment in itself that Tsitsipas was able to stay competitive until the business end of the set, as he had a first serve percentage of just 42 percent, while the German was at a healthier 72 percent.

Moving on to the second set, the No 3 was simply flawless on serve, only relinquishing one point behind his devastating first serve, and not allowing Tsitsipas to gain any traction on return. Ultimately, it would be the No 11’s service game at 1-1 that would prove fatal, with a few imprecise serves costing him a break – and the match. The German held comfortably from there, and closed out the match with ease, 6-4 in the second set.

The loss means that Stefanos Tsitsipas is now out of Turin contention, having qualified for the last five editions of the ATP Finals.

By making the Paris Masters semi-finals, Alexander Zverev becomes the third active player – the eighth since 1990 – to make at least 20 Masters 1000 semi-finals, alongside Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Zverev, ranked No 3, will play the winner of the match between Dane Holger Rune, the No 13 seed, and Australian Alex De Minaur, the No 9 seed, next.

The German beat Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor (7-6 (2), 6-3) and Frenchman Arthur Fils (6-4, 3-6, 6-3) in the previous rounds of the Paris-Bercy tournament.

Earlier in the tournament, Tsitsipas, ranked No 11, won against Spanish lucky loser Roberto Carballes Baena (4-6, 6-3, 6-3), Chilean Alejandro Tabilo (6-3, 6-4) and Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo (6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-2).

Paris Masters 1000, other quarter-finals results (Accor Arena, hard, EUR 5.950.575, most recent results first):

• Grigor Dimitrov vs. Karen Khachanov
• Jordan Thompson vs. Ugo Humbert
• Holger Rune vs. Alex De Minaur