Tennis Olympic champion Alexander Zverev has reached the semifinals at the Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid.
The 25-year-old defending champion beat Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 7-5 on Friday evening.
After 1:55 hours, Zverev converted his first match point.
In Munich he had recently failed at the opening hurdle, now the Hamburger showed improving form again.
"I think that was maybe the best match from my side in the last few months, except maybe a bit at the end," said Zverev.
"I played good tennis for a set and a half and I hope I can continue playing like this."
Zverev now meets Stefanos Tsitsipas at the clay court event in the Spanish capital.
The Greek won against the Russian Andrei Rublev 6:3, 2:6, 6:4.
A good two weeks before the start of the French Open in Roland Garros, Zverev appeared concentrated and dominant for a long time after changing coaches to former clay court specialist Sergi Bruguera.
He never really let his opponent get into the match, but then briefly lost the thread in the second set when the score was 4:1.
But Zverev fought back and saved himself an exhausting night shift with a third sentence.
So far, however, Zverev has only been able to win three of ten duels against Tsitsipas.
In the last game of the two at the Masters three weeks ago in Monte Carlo, the Greek won straight in two sets.
"Rafa is on the way back and Novak is gradually gaining momentum, but at the moment he is perhaps the best clay court player in the world," said Zverev of his feared opponent Tsitsipas.
“I think I have to play my best level to have a chance but I'm looking forward to this game because in Monte Carlo he beat me pretty easily.
I hope I can change that.”
Rafael Nadal missed the semifinals.
The Grand Slam record winner from Spain lost the quarter-final duel against his 19-year-old compatriot Carlos Alcaraz 2: 6, 6: 1, 3: 6.
Alcaraz is the first player under 20 to beat Nadal on clay.
The Serbian Novak Djokovic had previously prevailed against the Pole Hubert Hurkacz 6: 3, 6: 4 and now meets the young Spaniard.
"I don't care who's on the other side of the net," said the Serb.
"I just want to get better and better, every day.
I'm currently concentrating exclusively on myself. ”After being refused permission to start in Australia, Djokovic had taken a break from competition because of an apparently incorrectly reported Covid infection and his unclear vaccination status.
At the start of the season this year, Nadal made his comeback after a serious foot injury with the Australian Open and a total of 21 degree Slam titles as the record winner.
After that he was sidelined due to a stress fracture in a rib.