Alexander Zverev has never been to the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament, but he now has a golden chance to send himself to that level. All he needs to do is get past Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals. Djokovic is looking to join Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the next round, which would ensure that all of the Big Three will be on the stage to the delight of ATP fans across the world. Going into the match, the sportsbook favors Djokovic with -800 odds to make it through to the semifinals, while Zverev is priced at +500.
Zverev has reached his second quarterfinals at the French Open a year after doing it for the first time. He did it by eking out a stressful 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) win over Fabio Fognini in the fourth round. Zverev flummoxed Fognini with his powerful serves that topped 134 miles per hour. Zverev had 14 aces to just two by Fognini. He also placed 70 percent of his first serves and won 69 percent of his first serve points. Zverev broke Fognini five times, though, he also had to work on his return game after getting scored on by 41 winners in the match. Zverev is clearly the underdog against Djokovic, but don’t expect him to get blinded by the shine of his next opponent, whom he has beaten twice before, including the lone match they’ve had so far on the clay court. Zverev beat Djokovic in the Finals of the 2017 Rome Masters, 6-4, 6-3.
The 2019 French Open seems to be joke for Djokovic thus far. No opponent has yet to give him any serious trouble through the first four rounds of the tournament. In the fourth round, he took down Jan-Lennard Struff in an almost mechanized fashion, scoring a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win. Djokovic put 62 percent of his first serves in and won a whopping 86 percent of his first serve points. With the form Djokovic has shown in the tournament thus far, it’s difficult to go against him right now. Zverev appears to be the first true test of Djokovic at the 2019 French Open, which could be considered a bit late, but his extensive experience against elite opponents should compensate for the seemingly lack of testy opposition in preparation for the deeper rounds in the tournament for the Serbian. Djokovic has 15 Grand Slam titles with one coming from Roland Garros.
