Zverev’s 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5-7) victory on Saturday (1/11) ends his five-match losing streak against the Russian. Zverev also played Sinner last week in the Vienna final, which was won by the Italian.

“The thing I’m most pleased with is the match points saved, the way I continued being brave and in the important moments, winning the match myself,” he said in his on-court interview.

“I felt like in the beginning I was playing well, but I was playing very stupid tactically. I felt like I could turn the match around because I was feeling really well with my shots, but again, I was playing very, very dumb. I changed a few things in my tactics and broke back.”

The other semi-final will see Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime taking on Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik. Auger-Aliassime ended Valentin Vacherot’s impressive run with a 6-2, 6-2 win in the quarterfinals. 

Vacherot had won his previous ten Masters matches, but the Canadian proved too strong for the Monegasque player as he advanced to his fourth Masters semifinal.

“I tried to keep these good bearings for this match. I tried to focus on my own game, and this is what I did,” said Auger-Aliassime in the French-language portion of his press conference.

‘Sometimes I had good ideas’

“Everything that was in my control I actually could roll out, and sometimes I had good ideas and I managed to implement that.”

It is the first time Bublik will appear in a Masters semi-final after winning 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 7-5 against Australian sixth seed, Alex de Minaur.

OFM Sport/Ilse Smalberger dg