Zverev still dominating among #NextGen stars, Nishikori outlasts Paul in Washington, D.C.
By Ricky Dimon
Alexander Zverev continues to separate himself.
The 20-year-old German, who is already up to eighth in the rankings, held all nine of his service games while saving two break points. Zverev survived his opening match of the week against Jordan Thompson in a third-set tiebreaker but has since picked up the pace to beat Medvedev and Tennys Sandgren in straight sets.
“I love the atmosphere and the people in Washington,” the No. 5 seed commented. “It’s a young crowd and they’re very loud, so it’s always fun to play here. I’m just happy to be through to the semifinals, but obviously don’t want to stop here.”
Medvedev’s Washington, D.C. run has stopped, but he may be part of the NextGen ATP Finals in Milan–along with Zverev–at the end of the season. Medvedev, 21, has climbed to No. 50 in the world. The Russian is expected to be ranked 48th next week thanks in part to wins over Reilly Opelka, Steve Johnson, and Grigor Dimitrov. Medvedev got the best of both Opelka and Johnson in third-set tiebreakers.
“I think Medvedev has a huge game, like a lot of the Russian players who are playing very aggressively,” Zverev noted. “He looks much stronger in the past year and moves very well, so his game is coming along.”
So, too, is the game of Tommy Paul. Following a breakout tournament last week in Atlanta (quarterfinals), Paul also reached the last eight in Washington, D.C. and came within one point of extending his run to the semis. Kei Nishikori, however, saved three match points and eventually outlasted the 20-year-old American 3-6, 7-6(8), 6-4. The entertaining tussle lasted two hours and 39 minutes.
The length of the match was certainly longer than Paul’s shorts. Rocking white nikes that did not come close to his knees, a la John McEnroe in the 1980s or a present-day Rafael Nadal, Paul also let his game do the talking with an array of winners of both his forehand and backhand wings.
But he did not have quite enough in the tank to get the job done on match points with Nishikori serving at 3-5 in the second, at 6-5 in the tiebreaker, and again at 8-7 in the ‘breaker.
As such, Nishikori advances to face Zverev on Saturday. The other semifinal will pit Kevin Anderson against Jack Sock.
Topics: 10sballs.com, Alexander Zverev, Atp World Tour, Citi Open, GRIGOR DIMITROV, Kei Nishikori, Reilly Opelka, Ricky Dimon, Sascha Zverev, Sports, Steve Johnson, Tennis News, Tommy Paul, Washington DC