Zverev outlasts Alcaraz to return to French Open semis

Alexander Zverev beat Carlos Alcaraz in a dramatic four-set clash yesterday to secure a French Open semi-final meeting with either Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal. The German third seed claimed a 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory over 19-year-old Spanish sensation Alcaraz after three hours and 18 minutes.Zverev moved into his second straight last-four match at Roland Garros with his first-ever Grand Slam win over a top-10 player. “I hope I can win it before he starts beating us all and we have no chance,” said Zverev. “The match was swinging his way. I’m extremely happy to win the tie-break.”The 2020 US Open runner-up will face either world number one Djokovic or 13-time champion Nadal – who were playing a late match last night – in the semis on Friday. Alcaraz has won four titles this year, including two Masters 1,000 events, but made 56 unforced errors as he missed the chance to reach a first major semi-final.Instead, Olympic champion Zverev reached the last four at a Slam for the fifth time in his career to maintain his bid for a maiden title at one of the sport’s four biggest events. It also gave him a measure of revenge for the heavy defeat he suffered against Alcaraz in the Madrid Masters final earlier this month.Alcaraz delighted the Court Philippe Chatrier crowd with a rally to take the third set. A dramatic fourth set saw Zverev miss a chance to serve out the tie, but he sealed victory on his second match point in the tie-break. Alcaraz paid for making 16 unforced errors as Zverev took the opener thanks to the only break in game five.Teenager Gauff, late bloomer Trevisan in semisIn Women’s, teenage star Coco Gauff and Martina Trevisan, a seasoned Italian professional who rebuilt her career after conquering anorexia, reached their maiden Grand Slam semi-finals yesterday. Gauff, who burst onto the scene as a 15-year-old history-maker at Wimbledon three years ago, defeated fellow American Sloane Stephens 7-5, 6-2. Trevisan needed three sets to see off 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez of Canada 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3.Victory for Gauff, 18 years old and ranked 23 in the world, avenged her defeat to Stephens at the 2021 US Open and helped erase the memory of her quarter-final defeat last year to eventual champion Barbora Krejcikova in Paris. “I feel so happy,” said Gauff. “Last year was a tough loss for me but I believe that match made me stronger. Last time I played Sloane I lost. Today was different. I stayed mentally strong as she is the kind of player who can make shots others can’t do.”Gauff was junior champion at Roland Garros in 2018 and then rocketed into the public consciousness when she became the youngest woman to qualify for Wimbledon. Her profile rocketed when she went all the way to the fourth round at the All England Club, knocking out Venus Williams on the way. While in the French capital, Gauff has graduated high school, marking the occasion on Instagram with a family photo in front of the Eiffel Tower.World number 59 Trevisan, 10 years older than Gauff, was a shock quarter-finalist in 2020. She arrived at the French Open with a maiden WTA title in Rabat and went into yesterday’s tie on a nine-match winning streak. She made that 10 when she claimed victory on a second match point having wasted one in the second set with Fernandez left to rue her 44 unforced errors.“I was very nervous on that first match point, I thought I was already in the semi-final,” said Trevisan, the first Italian woman to make the last four since Sara Errani in 2013. Trevisan, now guaranteed a place in the top 30 at least, said Grand Slam titles by fellow Italians Francesca Schiavone in Paris in 2010 and Flavia Pennetta at the 2015 US Open were her influences.Two years ago, Trevisan, then ranked 159, knocked Gauff out in three sets in the second round in Paris. She then revealed how she struggled as a teenager with an eating disorder after her father was diagnosed with a degenerative disease. “Thirty grams of cereals and a fruit in the evening. It was enough for me to stand up, and to worry my mother, who ran to pick peaches from the trees just to see me eat something,” she wrote in an online blog.“Fortunately, having reached the point of no return, I realised that I could not go on like this. I had lost all interest, I had closed myself in my cocoon. I was re-educated to eat.”The remaining French Open quarter-finals take place today when world number one Iga Swiatek looks for a 33rd successive win when she faces Jessica Pegula of the United States. Swiatek, who was celebrating her 21st birthday on Tuesday, was champion in Paris in 2020. Daria Kasatkina and Veronika Kudermetova meet in the other, all-Russian quarter-final.Quarter-final results x denotes seeding; players representing Russia and Belarus are banned from competing under the name or flag of their countriesMen: Alexander Zverev (GER x3) bt Carlos Alcaraz (ESP x6) 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7)Women: Martina Trevisan (ITA) bt Leylah Fernandez (CAN x17) 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3; Coco Gauff (USA x18) bt Sloane Stephens (USA) 7-5, 6-2