Rome: Alexander Zverev reaches the final by overthrowing Alejandro Tabilo, surprise guest of the last four
A tough return to earth. Alejandro Tabilo (32nd), impressive throughout the Rome tournament and imperial in the first round, finally lost the first Masters 1000 semi-final of his career (1-6, 7-6 [4], 6-2) against Alexander Zverev (5th), Friday May 17. The German, dominated for a long time, held on to come back and finally reach his first final in 2024.
Faced with the surprise guest of the semi-finals in Rome, still ranked 190th player in the world a year ago, the finalist of the US Open 2020 seemed overwhelmed for a long time before gradually gaining the upper hand.
Building on his impressive victories against Novak Djokovic (1st), Karen Khachanov (16th) and Zhizhen Zhang (56th) in the previous rounds, Alejandro Tabilo only took 32 minutes to pocket the first set, dictating the game with authority (11 winning shots for only two unforced errors).
But Alexander Zverev, with the experience, clung on. A little more dashing in the second set, without being brilliant, he relied on an excellent service to go to the decisive game and win it. Visibly tired, Alejandro Tabilo then lost intensity in the third set, with a constantly declining serve and less energy invested in each strike.
The Chilean will console himself with a seeded and underdog status at Roland-Garros, and his entry into the world top 25 next week. Alexander Zverev returns to the final of a tournament which saw him win his first Masters 1000 title in 2017, and is applying for a sixth trophy in this category. He could find another Chilean in the final, Nicolas Jarry (24th), who is opposed to the American Tommy Paul (16th) in the other semi-final, this evening, from 8:30 p.m.
- For more: Elrisala website and for social follow us on Facebook
- Source of information and images “francetvinfo“
