In Madrid 2018, world no. 3 Alexander Zverev advanced into his fourth Masters 1000 final in the previous 12 months. Zverev met another young gun Denis Shapovalov in the semi-final and scored a dominant 6-4, 6-1 victory in 57 minutes in Caja Magica.
It was their third match and the third win for Zverev, who had the upper hand in the youngest semi-final at this Masters 1000 event that started in 2002
. The German was the dominant figure in his games. He dropped nine points behind the initial shot and never faced a break point to mount all the pressure on the other side.
Pushing hard on the return, Alexander grabbed almost half of the points behind Denis’ initial shot. The German seized all four break opportunities to seal the deal in style and set the title clash against Dominic Thiem. Both players stayed below ten winners from the court.
Zverev tamed his strokes more efficiently and hit eight unforced errors fewer than his rival. Shapovalov sprayed 21 and failed to impose his strokes or move the opponent from his comfort zone. Denis played well to reach the semi-final after heading to Madrid with no wins in the ATP tournaments on clay.
The Canadian found the rhythm on the fast surface in Caja Magica but had nothing left in the tank for Alexander, who had a massive advantage in the shortest rallies up to four strokes.
Alexander Zverev stormed over Denis Shapovalov in the 2018 Madrid semi-final.
The booming serves led the young German toward victory, hitting a service winner in over half of the points and challenging Denis to repeat that to stay in contention.
The youngest Masters 1000 semi-finalist on clay since Rafael Nadal and Richard Gasquet held at love in the encounter’s opening game. He stayed in touch early on, with only two points for the returners in the first four games, completed in nine minutes.
Shapovalov held after deuce in game five to remain in front and delivered another fine hold at 3-3 to terminate the first seven games in 21 minutes! Zverev closed the eighth game with another powerful serve. He drew first blood a few minutes later after breaking Shapovalov at 30.
Alexander secured the opener with a forehand winner in the tenth game for 6-4 and a boost. With momentum on his side, the German grabbed a break at the beginning of the second set following the Canadian’s forced error. Alexander cemented the advantage with four service winners in game two and forged a set and a break lead.
A left-hander sprayed a backhand error in the third game to suffer a break at love and lose the rhythm. Zverev moved 4-0 in front and emerged at the top with another return game at 5-1.
