Ninth seed Alexander Zverev of Germany beat Nicolas Jarry of Chile 7-5 6-3 in the quarterfinals of Halle on Friday. The match lasted for around two hours, as the big German proved to be the superior player in the end.
Zverev will face Alexander Bublik in the semifinal on Saturday. The German looked in good form in the quarterfinal and remains one of the favorites to win the tournament.
Alexander Zverev foiled Jarry’s net-rushing from the baseline:
Jarry rushed the net quite frequently from the very beginning and tried to win points from the forecourt. Zverev, meanwhile, stayed on the baseline for the most part and tried to win the match from there.
On quite a few occasions, the Chilean had no answer to the German’s passing shots and had to concede points as a result. Despite having a strong serve and big forehand, the Chilean had to struggle to win most of his service games in the first set.
Zverev got the decisive break of serve in the 12th game of the first set, as Jarry overpressed to hit a couple of forehands long. He then hit a volley into the net to allow the German to win the set.
Zverev put pressure on Jarry’s backhand:
Zverev used his crosscourt backhand quite effectively to put pressure on the Chilean’s backhand. Jarry struggled to win points off his backhand in the match and the German made good use of it.
Zverev rushed the net more often in the second set than in the first and also defended superbly along the baseline throughout the match.
He also out-served Jarry, hitting 12 aces to the Chilean’s six and winning 74% of the points on his first serve against Jarry’s 67%. He broke the Chilean in the second game of the second set to build up a lead and managed to hold on to it for the remainder of the match.
Main Photo Credit: Peter van den Berg-USA TODAY Sports
