Major mystery over? Zverev surges by Wawrinka for first Slam semifinal

There was an understated moment in Wednesday’s first men’s quarterfinal at the Australian Open where No. 15 seed Stan Wawrinka uttered the words, “great serve”, after his opponent, Alexander Zverev, missed three consecutive forehand returns. It enabled the Swiss to erase the first break point he faced in the match and hold for 1-1 in the second set.

The 2014 champion had blitzed to a one-set lead, and though his first serve percentage hovered in the low 30s for the first half hour, Wawrinka held his ground by pinpointing the German’s looser shot, the forehand. Zverev, who hadn’t won a set in his lone two previous major quarterfinal appearances the past two years at Roland Garros, responded brilliantly, winning all 20 points on his serve in the second set to get back on even terms.

While he had moments of tension in the ensuing set, the No. 7 seed was the one who stood tall, while Wawrinka’s level dipped. Zverev ran away to advance, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, putting an end to questions about his inability to compete in a big-time matchup on the major stage. He is now two wins away from becoming the first non-Big 3 member to win a major since Wawrinka at the 2016 US Open, a result that would see the 2018 ATP Finals champion donate 100 percent of his prize money to bushfire relief efforts (he is set to donate $50,000 as of now, with $10,000 per win).

"I was very impatient. In a way, also was maybe paying attention to it too much, to the Grand Slams. You know what I mean? I was paying too much attention to them," Zverev said in press. "As I said [earlier], it's going to be a process [in the] beginning of the week with the first few matches. I hope I could just get through them and start playing them better as the tournament gets along. This is what happened."

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The 22-year-old came into Melbourne Park with a 0-3 start in 2020, after struggling to find his footing at the inaugural ATP Cup. Serving yips played a pivotal role in beginning the decade on a sour note, as he combined for 31 double faults. But he's wiped away those memories in remarkable fashion, with his opening set against Wawrinka being his only blip thus far en route to the last four. In his previous match, he ended Andrey Rublev's 15-match win streak and has now taken all three of his encounters with Wawrinka.

Asked by John McEnroe about his turnaround on serve, Zverev joked, "Thanks for reminding me, I thought I forgot about it. First double fault I hit in the semis will be your fault."

Zverev then explained, "I worked very hard on it, a lot on it. I hope you can kind of see it. In the ATP Cup, it was horrible. This is a Grand Slam and this is where you're supposed to play your best tennis. And I am doing that."

The Hamburg native awaits the winner of world No. 1 Rafael Nadal and No. 5 seed Dominic Thiem. In the pair’s only previous best-of-five clash, Nadal rallied to prevail in five over Zverev at Melbourne Park three years ago in the third round. Zverev notched his first victory in six attempts over the Spaniard at last year’s ATP Finals. Thiem leads 6-2, holding a 2-1 edge on hard courts, though both of those victories came indoors.

Wawrinka finished with 35 winners to 39 unforced errors. He was bidding to get through to the final four at a Slam for the first time since undergoing two separate knee surgeries in 2017. The 34-year-old was also a quarterfinalist at Roland Garros and the US Open in 2019.

"The two times I played him, he was serving unbelievable, and I had some trouble [breaking] him. I know how well he can serve. Today, he was putting a lot of pressure with his serve," said Wawrinka. "In the end, if I look third set and fourth set, I was struggling to really push myself. It was not enough."