SEVENTH seed Alexander Zverev has secured a semi-finals win with a tight straight sets win over fourth seed Daniil Medvedev, stealing second spot in the Agassi Group from world number one Rafael Nadal in the final match of the group stage. Coming into the final day, sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas was all but guaranteed a spot after two wins providing he was to blown away by the Spanish star, while both Nadal and Zverev sat at one win from two games. Medvedev was unable to make the semis after back-to-back losses in the group stage, but had he upset Zverev, then it would have made it interesting.

In an almost three-hour epic contest, the world’s top ranked player left nothing to chance out on the court. Nadal had to win to give himself any chance of a semi-finals place against Tsitsipas, but the unbeaten Greek youngster was never going to make it easy, winning the first set in a tiebreaker before the Spanish star managed to gain the momentum and win tight twice, 6-7 6-4 7-5. Even at 5-5 in the third game, it was hard to determine which player would win and likely advance through to the semi-finals, but a superb return game from Nadal – who had two cracks in that game to break Zverev – gave him the upperhand and allowed the world number one to hold his serve and take out the match. It was an interesting match because Nadal was still far from his best, his first serve percentage at just 66 per cent, but it was his court coverage once again that was the difference, recording 39 winners with an 85 per cent success rate at the net, while converting two break points and restricting his opponent from breaking him once. Tsitsipas had a marvellous tournament up to that point, and while he was incredibly impressive, it was Nadal’s ability to stand up when it counted in crunch moments. The Greek talent won just 15 per cent of points off Nadal’s first serve, and was unable to set up a break point opportunity throughout the match. Despite winning the first set and being right in it up until the final couple of games, he could not close it out and allowed Nadal in with a chance of making the semis. Luckily for Tsitsipas, he had pushed the top seeded player enough to guarantee himself passage to the final four.

With the sixth seeded Greek into the semi-finals, it was then about seeing who would join him from the Agassi Group with the equation simple – if Zverev won he was through, if Medvedev won then Nadal was in. It took just two games for the determined German to take an opportunity, going 2-0 up in the first serve by breaking his opponent. Both players from that point on were hard to break, with just one break point opportunity between them and Medvedev was able to save it and hold serve. That meant that the seventh seed was able to take the first set thanks to that early break, 6-4, before a tiebreaker in the second set had everyone on the edge of their seat. Medvedev grabbed an early break in the tiebreaker, but Zverev fought back to win four of the next five points and lead 5-3 after a double fault in the eighth point. The Russian managed to maintain it to 4-6, before Zverev fittingly finished it off 7-4 with an ace on the final point to advance through to the ATP Finals semi-finals. While the winner served a couple of less aces compared to his opponent (8-10), he was brutally dominant when on serve, putting his first serve in a clinical 81 per cent of the time, then going on to win 88 per cent of those points, which always was going to be difficult for Medvedev to counteract. The Russian on the otherhand was shakier with just 65 per cent of his first serves in, but he recovered to win 77 per cent of those points. Marginally better across the court and at the net, Zverev like Nadal, was able to stand up just when he needed to, and secure his spot in the final four.

Overnight, Tsitsipas takes on Swiss Master Roger Federer who finished runner-up in the Borg Group, while Zverev plays Dominic Thiem who won that respective group.

Results Day 6 – Agassi Group:

[1] Rafael Nadal defeated [6] Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-7 6-4 7-5
[7] Alexander Zverev defeated [4] Daniil Medvedev 6-4 7-6