New york: Alexander Zverev moved one step closer to winning his second Grand Slam title after defeating Dutch player Bottic van der Sandsschulp 3-0 in sets with scores of 6-2, 7-5, and 6-1, securing his place in the US Open semi-finals where he will face Karen Khachanov.
According to Thai News Agency, the 29-year-old French Open champion had a difficult start in the early rounds but was able to regain her form and rhythm consistently. Zverev acknowledged his early struggles in the tournament, stating in an interview, "I think everyone has seen that I didn't play well in the first two rounds. In any other tournament, I would have been eliminated in the first round. But here, I was able to fight back and play in a best-of-five sets format for four and a half hours. I kept playing better and better throughout the match, and of course, I'm very happy to have reached the semi-finals here."
In the early stages of the match at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Zverev's serve was inconsistent, resulting in five double faults. However, Van der Sandsschulp also made several forehand errors, allowing the top seed to break Zverev's serve in the fifth game before ultimately closing out the first set.
In the second set, the Dutchman regained his footing and nearly caught up, but Zverev handled the pressure better and won three consecutive games at the end of the set, completely shifting the momentum into his own hands.
Then, in the third set, Zverev, the former runner-up in 2020, made a break point early in the set before controlling the game and comfortably closing out the match, securing his third career appearance in the US Open semi-finals. This victory brings Zverev's Grand Slam wins this year to 23, surpassing the previous record of 22 wins held by a German male tennis player, set by Boris Becker in 1989.
In his next match, Zverev will face Karen Khachanov of Russia, a rematch of their gold medal match at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics.