Zverev Cruises Into Washington SFs

Fifth seed Alexander Zverev wasted no time getting down to business on Friday at the Citi Open, prevailing in an all-#NextGenATP battle over Russian Daniil Medvedev 6-2, 6-4 in 57 minutes to reach the semi-finals.

“I love the atmosphere and the people in Washington. It’s a young crowd and they’re very loud, so it’s always fun to play here,” said Zverev. “I’m just happy to be through to the semi-finals, but obviously don’t want to stop here.”

The German broke Medvedev twice and maintained control throughout the opening set to grab the early advantage. Medvedev, who upset fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov on Thursday night, found his range in the second set and made it a far more competitive affair. Zverev was not to be denied, though, grabbing the lone break of the set at 4-4. He improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Medvedev to 2-0.

“I think Medvedev has a huge game, like a lot of the Russian players who are playing very aggressively,” said Zverev. “He looks much stronger in the past year and moves very well, so his game is coming along.”

Next up for the World No. 8 in the Emirates ATP Rankings is second seed Kei Nishikori or wild card and #NextGenATP American Tommy Paul. Zverev has never faced either player.