Alexander Zverev Ends Alex de Minaur’s French Open Run in Quarterfinals Duel

The Paris dream is over for Alex de Minaur, his hopes of reaching the French Open semi-final ground into the Roland Garros clay-court dust by the relentless Olympic champion Alexander Zverev. The first Australian man into the quarter-finals since Lleyton Hewitt two decades ago, de Minaur’s improbable adventure came to a halt in his first prime-time night slot on Court Philippe Chatrier as the towering German prevailed 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

De Minaur was far from disgraced in a straight-sets defeat at the end of a glorious breakthrough Roland Garros adventure in which he had proved he could live with the best, even on his least productive surface. But ultimately, Zverev proved too strong as he took his record against the Australian to 8-2. It was a singular effort from Zverev, who had been embroiled in two exhausting five-setters in his last two matches and been on court four hours longer than the Aussie.

But there was no sign of weariness, nor of any distraction from outside events with his trial for the alleged assault of an ex-partner still going on in Germany. De Minaur attacked, never giving Zverev a moment of peace as he tried to rush him out of his comfort zone. But the Olympic gold medallist was every bit as tough as the lightning Aussie, who never stopped fighting, even breaking back when the German was serving for the match at 5-3.

It proved a magnificent tie from the start, as a blistering 25-stroke rally ended by a de Minaur drop-shot winner set the tone in the second game. But there were a host of them, some extraordinary exchanges, such as the second-set epic in which de Minaur leapt in the air only to miss Zverev’s lob but still had the speed to scuttle back, retrieve the ball and ultimately dig out the point.