Fifth seed Alexander Zverev made a remarkable recovery to come back from 2 sets down against Pablo Carreno Busta to reach his first Grand Slam final at the US Open. The 2018 World Tour Finals champion became the youngest player to reach a Grand Slam final since Novak Djokovic when he was the same age during his runner-up finish at the same tournament.
After enjoying success against the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic in the Master Series, a breakthrough at the Grand Slams looked inevitable for the German. Now, as he is in a US Open final, he would definitely try to make one final push.
The Hamburg Native would become the 4th player in 15 years to win a Master Series event, World Tour Finals, and a Grand Slam if he wins on Sunday. We can definitely say that his partnership with David Ferrer is working regarding situations when he is down in the score.
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Match Breakdown
Pablo Carreno Busta, who was controversially the conqueror of World No.1 Novak Djokovic in the 4th round, was the one who started brightly. The Spaniard was scintillating from the back of the court and matched the German from the baseline.
The Spaniard was able to get a break early on in the first serve and effectively closed it out. The second set was even better than the first set as the Spaniard was able to raise his level to extra heights. The Spaniard took advantage of the 36 unforced errors committed by the Hamburg Native in the first two sets as he took a 2 set-lead.
The Australian Open semi-finalist took charge after going down in the match. Usually, we expect Zverev to wilt in the match after going down in the score. However, his mentality of staying in the match just goes to show the kind of work David Ferrer has done to evolve the German game. He broke at 2-1 in the third set and one break was enough to secure the third set.
The fourth set was up and down. Both players traded breaks earlier on. However, the fifth seed once again raised up his level to break the Spaniard serve. He effectively served out the fourth set and we were going to 5.
All the momentum created in the last set was enough as the German was able to break the Spaniard's serve (and this time his resistance) to finally move ahead in the scoreline. He effectively served the match out and reached his first Grand Slam final.
The fifth seed only lost 7 points on his first serve in the last 3 sets and hit 24 aces overall. Furthermore, he went from -11 count in the first 2 sets regarding the UE/Winners count to +25 in the last 3 sets. However, he can't be having a 41% success rate on his second serve against his next opponent.
In the final, the Hamburg Native meets second-seed Dominic Thiem in a rematch of their Australian Open semi-final, where the Austrian was able to win in 4 sets.