Alexander Zverev secured an impressive victory when he saved two match points to eliminate his rival, Daniil Medvedev, and keep his hopes of retaining his Paris Masters title alive.
Zverev's 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) victory over Medvedev set him up for a semifinal against second-seeded Jannik Sinner, a rematch of last week's Vienna final, which the Italian won. Meanwhile, Medvedev's chances of qualifying for the ATP Finals were dashed.
"The thing I'm most happy about is saving match points , the way I stayed brave and in the key moments, won the match," Zverev said after the match, as broadcast by ATP on Saturday.
From the start, Medvedev focused on maintaining his return position, which Zverev had been trying to counter from the start with a serve-and-volley style of play -- delivering powerful and fast serves close to the net -- or drop shots.
Zverev, who fell in the eighth game and had been nursing a left hamstring injury, switched his strategy to relying more on his power, and began testing Medvedev from the baseline.
"I felt like I played well at first, but my tactics were really stupid," Zverev said.
"I felt my shots, I felt like I could turn things around because I felt really good with my shots, but again, I played really, really stupid."
"I changed some tactics and fought back with the break. He helped me with the break at 1-0 in the second set," said the German.
