Alexander Zverev reached the quarter-finals at the French Open in a hurry.
Germany's best tennis player clearly won against Japanese Kei Nishikori 6: 4, 6: 1, 6: 1 on Sunday evening in Paris and thus survived the fourth round of the clay court classic for the third time.
In the fight for the semi-finals, Zverev will now face the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Tuesday.
"I played brilliantly today," said Zverev after his strong performance.
“But the tournament is not over yet.
I hope I have three more games here. ”He has great respect for his next opponent.
"He's probably playing the tournament of his life," said Zverev about the Spaniard.
There was praise for the German number one from tennis legend Boris Becker.
"Big compliment.
That was a very mature performance today, ”said Becker as a TV expert at Eurosport.
On Monday, Jan-Lennard Struff as another German has the chance to reach the quarter-finals in the French capital.
The German number two will meet the number ten seeded Argentinian Diego Schwartzman in the second game after 11.00 a.m. (Eurosport).
For Roger Federer, however, the French Open are over.
After his hard-fought four-set win against Dominik Koepfer, the 39-year-old Swiss announced on Sunday that he would not play in his round of 16 against the Italian Matteo Berrettini on Monday.
After a break of more than a year and two knee operations, Federer does not want to take any risks and protect his body for the upcoming season on grass.
After all, the classic at Wimbledon (June 28 to July 11) is Federer's big goal this year.
After a week off, Federer wants to play again in Halle.
Nishikori was apparently battered
Zverev was wide awake from the start in the night session at 9 p.m. despite the unusual start time. The 24-year-old immediately took the serve from Nishikori and then did not let himself be disturbed by losing his own service. Zverev determined the action with his powerful game, but also benefited from the fact that the Japanese was apparently a little battered. Nishikori had problems especially with service, which Zverev used to another break and to win the set after 43 minutes.
The world number sixth now had everything under control.
Powerful, concentrated and dominant, he did not let Nishikori, against whom he had already won at the tournaments in Madrid and Rome before the French Open, come back into the game.
The second set lasted less than half an hour, because Zverev had made the 6: 1 perfect.
But even with the safe leadership in the back, Zverev did not let up.
A sign that he has learned from the past.
In the past year, Zverev tortured himself several times through energy-draining five-set matches and then had no more energy in the knockout round against Jannik Sinner.
This time, Zverev kept the pace up.
He made a quick break in the third set and was unstoppable from then on.
After the quarter-finals at the Australian Open and the tournament victories in Acapulco and Madrid, now the quarter-finals in Paris.
A sign of a good season, but that shouldn't end at the French Open.
The goal remains the first Grand Slam title of his career.
Serena Williams fails again
The wait for the longed-for 24th Grand Slam title continues for tennis superstar Serena Williams.
The 39-year-old American lost on Sunday evening in Paris in the round of 16 against Kazakh Jelena Rybakina 3: 6, 5: 7 and thus missed the quarter-finals.
Rybakina converted her first match point after 77 minutes.
Williams won her last Grand Slam tournament so far in 2017 at the Australian Open.
She was already pregnant then.
Their daughter Olympia was born in September 2017.
Since then, she has tried eleven attempts in vain to set the Australian Margaret Court's record.
Williams never found her rhythm against 21-year-old Rybakina.
The long-time number one played with a thick bandage on her thigh and sometimes seemed clearly handicapped.
Rybakina, on the other hand, played carefree and also kept her nerve in the end.
The Kazakh now faces Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first quarter-finals of her career.
The 29-year-old prevailed somewhat surprisingly against secret favorite Victoria Asarenka from Belarus 5: 7, 6: 3, 6: 2.
Pavlyuchenkova is back in the quarter-finals for the first time in ten years at Stade Roland Garros.
The Slovenian Tamara Zidansek qualified for a quarter-finals at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.
The 23-year-old prevailed against Sorana Cirstea from Romania 7: 6 (7: 4), 6: 1.
She will now face the Spaniard Paula Badosa on Tuesday, who won against Marketa Vondrousova from the Czech Republic 6: 4, 3: 6, 6: 2.
German tennis women are no longer there.
Angelique Kerber, Laura Siegemund and Andrea Petkovic were all eliminated in the first round.