ATP Paris: Alexander Zverev battles past Mannarino. Milos Raonic joins him in QF

The 4th seed Alexander Zverev is through to the fifth quarter-final of the season, battling past Adrian Mannarino 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 in three hours. After back-to-back titles in Cologne, Zverev has now won ten straight indoor matches, wasting a match point in the second-set tie break and sealing the deal with a late break in the decider. The German fired 47 winners and 43 unforced errors, leaving the Frenchman on a 40-46 ratio and dominating the shortest rallies up to four strokes after landing a service winner in 28% of all the points behind the initial shot. The match kicked off with six strong holds on both sides before Alexander grabbed a break at love when Adrian netted a forehand. Instead of building on that, Zverev got broken a few minutes later following a volley winner from Mannarino, who fended off a break point at 5-5 with a service winner to reach a tie break. It was a wild one, with 24 points and eight set chances.

Alexander wasted two at 6-4 and a couple more at 8-7 and 10-9, fending off Mannarino's set points at 6-7, 8-9 and 10-11 and forcing an error from the rival to grab the breaker 13-11. Adrian scored an early break in set number two and Alexander erased the deficit at 1-2 with a forehand down the line winner. The Frenchman seized another lead a few minutes later when his rival sprayed a forehand error, saving a break point to open a 4-2 gap. Zverev pulled the break back in game eight and came from 4-0 down in the tie break to earn a match point with an ace at 6-6.

Alexander Zverev and Milos Raonic are through to the quarters in Paris.

Mannarino saved it with a service winner and landed a volley winner at 8-7 to steal the breaker and force a decider. Starting all over, Alexander lost six points behind the initial shot in the final set, wasting break opportunities in games one and five to keep Adrian in contention. Zverev finally grabbed a break at 4-4 following a terrible volley from Mannarino, serving for the victory in the next game.

The German saved a break point when the Frenchman netted a loose forehand and sealed the deal with an ace for the place in the 15th Masters 1000 quarter-final. Cincinnati finalist Milos Raonic will compete in the last eight in Paris for the first time since 2016, ousting a qualifier Marcos Giron 7-6, 6-2 in an hour and 21 minutes. The Canadian lost nine points in ten service games, never facing a break point and mounting the pressure on the American's side of the court. Giron stayed in touch in the opener, fending off three break chances before losing ground in the tie break, suffering two breaks in set number two to push Milos into the last eight. Raonic fired 27 winners and 21 unforced errors, dominating the shortest and mid-range exchanges to seal the deal in straight sets. Marcos saved two set points at 4-5 in the opener with service winners, reaching the tie break that Milos won 7-1 with his ninth ace. The Canadian grabbed the first break at 1-1 in the second set, earning another in game five and moving over the top with an ace at 5-2, setting the clash against Ugo Humbert.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3p4ITOr