Alexander Zverev entered the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open seeking more matches, and he’ll have at least one more as the top-seeded Germany overcame a mid-match slump to beat Bolivian Hugo Dellien 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 to make the semi-finals in Switzerland.
“He’s a great player… He started the year lower ranked, now he’s already Top 100. I think he’s going to finish the year much, much higher than he is now,” Zverev said. “I struggled a little bit but still ended up finding a way to win, and that’s most important for me right now.”
Zverev fought well to avoid the fate of second seed Stan Wawrinka, who was upset on Wednesday evening by Bosnian Damir Dzumhur. The 21-year-old German trailed 0-3 in the first set and saved one set point at 3-5, with Dellien serving at 40/30.
Zverev grabbed control of the deciding set by winning a seven-deuce game that included three break points to go up 2-1. The next game, Zverev broke the Bolivian.
“I played very aggressive in the important moments, very, very aggressive, also in break points down, I played very aggressive. This is finally something I was looking for in the last few weeks, months, and today I think I showed it,” Zverev said.
The 2018 Nitto ATP Finals champion is seeking his first title of the season. He will next meet Argentine Federico Delbonis, who beat Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6(5), 7-5 to make his second tour-level semi-final this season (Cordoba).
Fifth-seeded Moldovan Radu Albot recovered from 2-4 down in the second set to overcome qualifier Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina 6-3, 7-5 on Thursday for a place in the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open semi-finals. In a career-best season, Albot has recorded 19 match wins and won his first ATP Tour title in February at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com (d. Evans).
Albot now plays Chile’s Nicolas Jarry, who advanced to his first ATP Tour semi-final since August 2018 at the Generali Open in Kitzbuhel (l. to Istomin). Jarry lost just four of his first-service points — and 10 in total — to beat Taro Daniel of Japan 6-1, 7-5 in 79 minutes.
Source: ATP World Tour
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