Zverev ends Darderi’s run after late fightback

Alexander Zverev overpowered Luciano Darderi in the first two sets before the Italian-Argentine mounted a late challenge, allowing the German to advance to the US Open quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(3) victory.

Zverev, the world No. 2 and top seed in New York, took two hours and 31 minutes to defeat Darderi, ranked 22nd. He broke twice to move ahead 4-0 in each of the opening sets and closed both out 6-2.

Darderi then defended his serve fiercely and did not offer another break point, forcing Zverev into a tiebreak that could have changed the match. His main weakness came on return, where he won only 22% of points and had just one break opportunity, which he missed. Zverev won 42% of return points.

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Darderi started playing incredibly in the third set. It had been a long time since I had seen anyone hit the ball with so much power and such consistency throughout an entire set. So credit to him. He made it very difficult for me.

“Darderi started playing incredibly in the third set. It had been a long time since I had seen anyone hit the ball with so much power and such consistency throughout an entire set. So credit to him. He made it very difficult for me,” Zverev said courtside.

Zverev will next play Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, ranked 70th. The other quarterfinal in that half of the draw pits Karen Khachanov against Alexander Blockx. In the other half, Carlos Alcaraz faces Ben Shelton, while Frances Tiafoe meets Alex Michelsen. Zverev said his level had improved after two demanding five-set matches against Lorenzo Sonego and Quentin Halys, which together lasted almost 10 hours.

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I’m happy, without a doubt. I think that, compared with the first two matches, the level has been rising, and of course that is the goal.