Zverev tops Zhang in Hamburg for season-leading 43rd win

Alexander Zverev’s mission to win back-to-back titles in his hometown continued apace on Friday evening at the Hamburg Open.

The top seed and defending champion eased past Zhang Zhizhen 6-4, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals for the fourth time at the clay-court ATP 500. With his 66-minute triumph, his 43rd of the season, Zverev moved clear of World No. 1 Jannik Sinner for the most tour-level wins in 2024.

Zverev powered 22 winners, including 10 aces, according to Infosys ATP Stats, in a dominant victory against the eighth-seeded Zhang. The manner of victory for the No. 4 in the PIF ATP Rankings was in stark contrast to his three-set battle against Hugo Gaston on Thursday evening, when he appeared to struggle with a knee injury he sustained earlier this month at Wimbledon.

“I’m extremely pleased with the level of tennis today,” said Zverev in his post-match interview. “I think it was a big step up from yesterday, but obviously a very different match as well. I’m happy to be in the semi-finals, but I don’t want to stop here, I want to continue and hopefully defend my title here in Hamburg.”

Serving up a SF ticket 🎟

Defending champion @AlexZverev advances 6-4 6-3 past Zhang@hamburgopenatp | #HamburgOpenATP500 pic.twitter.com/fXRDegNzQK

— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 19, 2024

Zverev has this year reached the final at Roland Garros, the semi-finals at the Australian Open and won an ATP Masters 1000 crown in Rome. Later this month, he will begin his defence of his Olympic crown at Paris 2024. The 27-year-old was asked how his season so far has compared to 2021, when he finished the year with 59 tour-level wins and won six titles.

“2021 was strange, because I started the season OK, I was playing well, but then the second half of the season, I barely lost a match,” he recalled. “So I hope if it goes like that this year, especially with the Olympics and especially with the US Open, I’ll be the happiest person on the planet. We’ll see how it goes. I’m satisfied with the level of tennis I’m playing right now, but it takes a lot of hard work to continue on this path and on this journey.”

The next assignment for Zverev in his Hamburg title defence is a last-four clash against Pedro Martinez. The Spaniard rallied past fourth seed Francisco Cerundolo 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 to reach his first ATP 500 semi-final.

In the bottom half of the draw, third seed Sebastian Baez and fifth seed Arthur Fils will play their maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash for a spot in the championship match. Baez pulled through for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory against Luciano Darderi . He has now won a Tour-leading 23 matches on clay this year.

Fils was leading Holger Rune 6-4, 4-1 when the second-seeded Dane was forced to retire from the pair’s quarter-final clash due to a right knee injury. The #NextGenATP Frenchman Fils, who also reached the last four last year, is up three spots to a career-high No. 25 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings as a result of his Hamburg run so far. Should he win the title in Germany, he would crack the Top 20 in the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time on Monday.