Tommy Paul admitted his frustration with one aspect of Alexander Zverev’s game at the Australian Open.
The American reached his third career quarter-final final but he just fell short returning to the last four at Melbourne Park.
Tommy Paul played Alexander Zverev for the third time in his career but suffered defeat against the German for the first time.
The second seed sealed a 7-6(1), 7-6(0), 2-6, 6-1 victory in what was a disappointing loss for the World number 11, who certainly had his chances.
What did Tommy Paul find ‘frustrating’ about playing Alexander Zverev at the Australian Open?
Paul was unable to capitalise on certain moments against Zverev as he committed some untimely errors in sets one and two in their Australian Open quarter-final.
He was unable to take a set point in both sets and world number two took full advantage and dominated two tiebreaks to take the lead. Though Paul began to make a comeback, it was short-lived as Zverev claimed the win in four sets.
Post-match the 27-year-old says the most frustrating aspect of Zverev’s game is his serve, due to its pace and consistency. On Tuesday the German made 70% of his first serves against Paul, and won 71% of the points behind it.
“I think I returned well enough to win today. I definitely put myself in a position to win in the first, second, and third set. Obviously he’s got a great serve,” he said.
“I think he actually served a lower percentage than he normally does today, so I had more looks at second serves. I think that’s what frustrates people when they play him, is his super high percentage of first serves.
“He’s done an amazing job in the past couple of years with that. I mean, he’s got to have one of the highest percentages on tour.
“But today, you know, I was trying a couple of things and trying to get him to miss some first serves. I thought I did a pretty good job with that. My returning was not what cost me the match by any means today.”
Alexander Zverev passes Boris Becker for Australian Open German record
With his hard-fought victory, Zverev claimed his 30th match win at the Australian Open in his career.
Therefore, he now has the most wins by a German man at the Grand Slam, surpassing six-time Grand Slam champion Boris Becker.
Becker won the tournament on two occasions and Zverev now finds himself just two wins away from joining his compatriot in the club of Australian Open winners.
Speaking post-match about reaching the semi-finals in Melbourne for the third time, Zverev said: “To be honest, I should have been down two sets to love. He played better than me.
“I was not playing great and I thought he was. I somehow won the first set, somehow won the second set, and I’m up two sets to love all of a sudden and I need only one more set.
“The fourth set was definitely the best that I’ve played and I’m obviously extremely happy to be back in the semi-finals now.”
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