Zverev swallows fly but reaches quarters in Paris

Qatar Tribune

2 days ago

DPA
Paris
German tennis star Alexander Zverev recovered from an early wobble and swallowing a fly to glide into the quarter-finals of the French Open after Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor quit on Monday.
The number three seed was leading 6-4, 3-0 when his opponent gave up due to an apparent abdomen injury.
Zverev, who is yet to win a grand slam singles title and lost the Paris final last year to Carlos Alcaraz, could face men's grand slam record champion Novak Djokovic in the last eight and world number one Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals.
'I think from here I have the toughest draw it is possible to imagine,' he told reporters. 'I look forward to taking on the big names and will try everything to win the next three matches.'
The German was broken in his first service game after a thrilling rally and quickly found himself 3-0 down. But Zverev hit back with a break of his own on the Roland Garros red dust and was suddenly level at 3-3.
He then broke Griekspoor's service again on Court Suzanne Lenglen as the 28-year-old rattled off five games in a row to take control.
The German broke again twice at the start of the second set as the world number 35 lost his way.
Zverev became so dominant that even a coughing fit after swallowing a fly when about to serve failed to slow him down. After a gulp of water from his chair, Zverev returned to blast an ace.
'It doesn't taste so good, but maybe he should do it more often if it's followed by an ace,' pundit Boris Becker said on Eurosport.
Griekspoor then decided to retire from the contest, having also been beaten by Zverev on the Paris clay last year.
'Unfortunately, this morning and in the warmup with the last couple of serves that I hit, I pulled my abdominal, which made me not serve full and not able to compete the way I would like,' Griekspoor said.
'It was probably one of the biggest matches of my life against an opponent that I like to play on a beautiful court. So I just wanted to give it a shot, but I realized pretty early that it was not going to be my day.'
Bublik beats Draper
Jack Draper crashed out of the French Open in a shock fourth-round defeat by world number 62 Alexander Bublik.
The British number one and fifth seed seemed to have his head scrambled by the unpredictable slugger from Kazakhstan as he slumped to a 5-7 6-3 6-2 6-4 loss.
It meant an end to Britain's hopes in the singles at Roland Garros after Cameron Norrie, somewhat less surprisingly, was beaten by Novak Djokovic earlier on Monday.
Instead, 27-year-old Bublik became the first Kazakh man to reach a grand slam quarter-final.
Draper had matched Bublik serve for serve in the first set until he was gifted the break for 6-5 by a double-fault.
The 23-year-old also broke at the start of the second, but from then on things just seemed to unravel.
Bublik, to his credit, was hitting the ball gloriously at times, his drop-shots repeatedly leaving Draper stranded.
The stress on Draper's face was there for all to see as Bublik marched into a 2-1 lead, with the Londoner simply unable to halt the momentum.
In a marathon final game Draper saved a match point and had five break points, but was unable to take any of them.
In the build-up to the match, Bublik had compared Draper to a UFC fighter, but after two hours and 34 minutes it was the 6ft 5in underdog who landed the knockout blow.
Bublik said afterwards: 'You know sometimes in life there is only one chance. I had a feeling that I was mine and I couldn't let it slip.'
Djokovic sails
Cameron Norrie limped out of the French Open after his best run at Roland Garros was ended by Novak Djokovic.
The British number three, in the fourth round for the first time, needed treatment on a foot injury during a painful straight-sets defeat.
Norrie was playing his biggest match since the 2022 Wimbledon semi-final, which he also lost to Djokovic.
He did at least grab a set that day, but in Paris the 29-year-old was emphatically swept aside 6-2 6-3 6-2, a sixth career defeat in six meetings with the Serbian.