Roland-Garros: Zverev ends Etcheverry’s spectacular run, reaches third consecutive semi-final

Alexander Zverev edged out Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday. He’ll face the winner of the match between Dane Holger Rune, the No 6 seed, and Norwegian Casper Ruud, the No 4 seed, in the next round

7 June 2023

Alexander Zverev at Roland-Garros in 2023 (AI/Reuters/Panoramic)

Carrie Dunn

French Open 2023 Men's Singles •Quarter-final • completed

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A. ZverevvsT. Etcheverry

German Alexander Zverev, the No 22 seed, edged out Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the semi-finals of Roland-Garros on Wednesday.

This will be Zverev’s third Roland-Garros semi-final – third in a row – and sixth at all Grand Slams.

“I’m happy to be in a semi-final of a Grand Slam any time that I’m there,” Zverev said afterwards, admitting that following his serious ankle injury in last year’s Roland-Garros, it was perhaps a bit sweeter.

“But, of course, for me the tournament is not over. I’m happy to be here, but I know that hopefully I have two more matches ahead, and they’re not going to get easier.”

The match saw Etcheverry drop his first sets of the tournament thus far, having won his previous 11. He was the fourth unseeded player in a row to reach the quarter-finals in Paris, following Holger Rune (in 2022), Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (in 2021) and Jannik Sinner (in 2020).

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In his press conference, Etcheverry was sanguine.

“These two weeks changed my life. Today was an incredible experience for me to play in the Philippe-Chatrier stadium.

“Alexander played incredible tennis today, but I had my chances in the third set and fourth set. It’s all positive for me.

“Today I go and speak with my team, what happened in the match. But, of course, it was tough, but I played good tennis.”

Zverev, ranked No 27, will face the winner of the match between Dane Holger Rune, the No 6 seed, and Norwegian Casper Ruud, the No 4 seed, next.

In the previous rounds, the German beat South African Lloyd Harris (7-6 (6), 7-6, 6-1), Slovak Alex Molcan (6-4, 6-2, 6-1), American Frances Tiafoe, the No 12 seed (3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1, 7-6 (5)) and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 28 seed (6-1, 6-4, 6-3).

Etcheverry, ranked No 49, won against Jack Draper (6-4, 1-0 ret.), Australian Alex De Minaur, the No 18 seed (6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-3), Croat Borna Coric, the No 15 seed (6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-2) and Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka, the No 27 seed (7-6 (8), 6-0, 6-1) earlier in the tournament.