Alexander Zverev comes full circle in earning shot at rewriting Roland Garros semifinal history

On June 7, 2022, Alexander Zverev underwent surgery to repair three ligaments in his right ankle after sustaining a brutal injury late in the second set of his Roland Garros semifinal with Rafael Nadal.

Exactly one year later, Zverev has returned to that very stage of Paris major with a chance to erase those painful memories after navigating his way through the bottom quarter of the men’s draw. On Wednesday evening, the German ended Tomas Martin Etcheverry’s breakout run with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory in reaching the final four for a third successive year on the terre battue.

"I couldn't play for the first seven months of my injury. Then for the next three, four months I was still in pain, so I wasn't pain-free. I wasn't able to move the way I wanted to," Zverev reflected in press.

"But, I mean, sometimes it's also just reminding yourself of who you were and what kind of matches you have won in the past. I think that is important sometimes as well."

Zverev had posted modest results during the lead-up to the season’s second Grand Slam event. An opening-round defeat to Chris O’Connell in Munich was followed up by decisive third-round losses to Carlos Alcaraz in Madrid and Daniil Medvedev in Rome, respectively. At the Geneva Open, the 26-year-old was tripped up by eventual champion Nicolas Jarry in the semifinals.

But since stepping foot on the grounds of his most consistent major tournament to date, the No. 22 seed has hit his stride. Two straight-set wins to start were followed-up by victories over No. 12 seed Frances Tiafoe and No. 28 seed Grigor Dimitrov, the latter which saw Zverev save 14 of the 16 break points he faced to dismantle the Bulgarian in three.

Taking on Etcheverry, Zverev’s one-set lead was eventually countered with an inspired stretch by the Argentine, one where the world No. 49 won three straight return games en route to leveling and soon taking an early break lead in the third set. His forehand was a shining shot—at times reminiscent of countryman Juan Martin del Potro with blazing winners approaching triple digits in the m.p.h. department—but Zverev’s experience and superiority in the pair’s backhand exchanges ultimately aided his cause to regain control.

With Zverev serving at 4-3 in the fourth set, Etcheverry held 15-40 to get back on serve. The Hamburg native’s backhand came through again in wiping away the two break points and he let out a roar after safely holding. After his unseeded foe held at love, Zverev shut the door at the 3:22 mark.

"As I said before, it was definitely a tournament that I marked on my calendar this year. I'm happy to be playing the way I'm playing here in Paris." said Zverev. "I'm extremely happy with how things are going, but as I said, the tournament is not over yet. There are still potentially two very, very difficult matches ahead, and I'm looking forward to that."

The 2021 US Open finalist awaits the winner of a Roland Garros quarterfinal replay between Casper Ruud and Holger Rune.