Alexander Zverev is in the Paris-Bercy final. He gives the Dane Holger Rune no chance in the semi-finals.
Alexander Zverev raised his arms in relief and let the frenetic Paris audience celebrate him: Germany’s tennis star is aiming for his 23rd individual title on the ATP tour on Sunday. The Hamburger defeated the Dane Holger Rune in the semifinals of the Masters in Paris after a dominant performance 6:3, 7:6 (7:4) and has the opportunity after his bitter final defeat in Roland Garros and his Olympic disappointment this year to make peace with the French capital after all.
In the final of the indoor tournament in Paris-Bercy on Sunday, the world number three will face Ugo Humbert from France or the Russian Karen Chatschanow, whom Zverev defeated in the final in Tokyo in his 2021 Olympic triumph.
Zverev: “It’s always exciting”
“I made it a little difficult for myself. “I’m happy to be in my second final here and in my second final in Paris this year,” said Zverev: “It’s always exciting to play for such titles.”
For the Hamburg resident, who has recently been in poor health, it is the second time he has reached the final of the Paris Masters, which means he will replace Carlos Alcaraz in second place in the world rankings on Monday. In 2020 he lost in three sets against the Russian Daniil Medvedev. Against Rune, Zverev further extended his personal record with his 65th win this season.
Zverev was only the fourth player ever to reach at least the round of 16 in all nine Masters tournaments within one year. Nevertheless, so far he has “only” won the tournament in Rome in 2024. With his success over Rune, he now reached his twelfth final at a Masters event – he has already won a tournament in the 1000 category six times.
Zverev dominates from the start
With his run in Paris, Zverev is gaining momentum again after a few health setbacks for the season finale in Turin, where he will fight for his third title at the ATP Finals from November 10th. He had already experienced two big disappointments in Paris this year: at the beginning of June he lost dramatically in five sets to the Spaniard Alcaraz in Roland Garros in the fight for his first Grand Slam title. At the Olympic Games, he was physically weakened and was eliminated in the quarterfinals.
On Saturday, Zverev dominated his fourth duel with Rune from the start; Boris Becker’s former protégé was unable to counter the Tokyo Olympic champion’s strong serve game in the first set. At the end of the second round, Zverev wobbled briefly, but kept his nerve in the tiebreak and converted his second match point after around 105 minutes.
