Madrid Open: Zverev reaches semifinals, joins Federer, Nadal, Sinner in elite list

Madrid [Spain], May 1 : Alexander Zverev reached the semifinals of the ongoing Madrid Open, easing past Flavio Cobolli to continue his impressive run in the ATP Masters 1000 tournaments.

On Thursday, Zverev beat Cobolli 6-1, 6-4 just 12 days after losing to him in the semifinals of the Munich Open. The two-time Madrid Open champion dropped just seven of 39 points behind his first serve, en route to his fourth semifinal in the competition.

Following the win, Zverev was quoted as saying by ATP's official website that Flavio is "one of his favourite guys on the tour".

"I have a great relationship with him and a great relationship with his father. This is sport... Sports can change very quickly. In Munich, he played an amazing match, and I did not play a very good match. Today, it was maybe the opposite," he added.

With this impressive victory wrapped up in one and the half hour, Zverev is the fourth man to make it to the semifinals of the first four Masters 1000 events of the season, since the inception of this category in 1990, joining legends and rising stars like Roger Federer (2006), Rafael Nadal (2010, 2011) and Jannik Sinner (2026). Zverev, the current world number three in the ATP Rankings, lost to Jannik at the semis during the Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo this year.

"It is amazing but, of course, I need to get past this stage now," Zverev said, emphasising the need to overcome the semifinal hurdle.

Zverev will next face 21-year-old Belgian Alexander Blockx in the semifinal. Blockx, the world number 69 had produced a shocker, outclassing defending champion Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 to book his ticket to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 semifinal.

Zverev's win over Cobolli improved his head-to-head contest against him by 3-1. He also marked his 179th clay court tour-level win, breaking his tie with Philipp Kohlschreiber for the most by a German men's player in the Open Era.

With his win over Cobolli, with which he improved to 3-1 in the pair's Lexus ATP Head2Head series, Zverev also moved to 179 tour-level victories on clay, breaking his tie with Philipp Kohlschreiber for the most by a German man in the Open Era.

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