In a battle of endurance, Alexander Zverev fought off a determined challenge from Britain’s Cameron Norrie to book his place in the Australian Open quarter-finals with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (10/3) victory after a gruelling five-set spectacle.
The German sixth seed, chasing his first Grand Slam title, weathered the storm from Norrie, needing over four hours to seal the win.
He now faces either second seed Carlos Alcaraz or unseeded Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic in the last eight.
“It’s a Grand Slam, everyone’s at their best,” Zverev acknowledged after the nail-biting encounter. “Cam’s been playing amazing tennis, I’m happy to get through.”
The opening set featured both players holding serve until Zverev snatched the crucial break with a blistering 16-shot rally in the 11th game, capitalising on Norrie’s net cord.
However, Norrie, riding a four-match winning streak against Zverev on Tour, refused to go down easily. He roared back in the second set, claiming a single break to restore parity.
Zverev regained control in the third set with another service break, but Norrie remained unfazed, striking back in kind in the fourth to keep the match on a knife-edge.
The deciding set started with fireworks, Zverev breaking Norrie to ignite his hopes. Yet, the Briton, demonstrating tremendous fighting spirit, broke back immediately. The seesaw battle continued until the tie-break, where Zverev finally pulled away with a dominant display, sealing the victory at 10-3.
Zverev, currently ranked second in the world, remains in the hunt for his maiden Grand Slam crown.
He reached the 2020 US Open final and made semi-final appearances at both the Australian Open and French Open.
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