Alexander Zverev soared into his fifth tour-level final of the season on Saturday at the Erste Bank Open, overcoming #NextGenATP Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz 6-3, 6-3 to end the 18-year-old’s strong run in Vienna.
The second seed, who earned both his 50th tour-level victory of the season and 300th tour-level career win this week, hit with great depth and soaked up Alcaraz’s power to advance after 68 minutes.
“I finally found my rhythm from the baseline because I was really struggling,” Zverev said. “I didn’t feel the ball well and I spent some time on the court after the match yesterday and warmed up for an hour and a half before the match today and I finally got it.”
The German now leads Alcaraz 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head series and holds a 24-2 record since Wimbledon, capturing the Olympic singles gold medal and the Cincinnati title in this time.
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“I am happy with how things are going and hopefully I can get another win tomorrow,” Zverev added. “The Olympics was the key factor. The match against Novak [Djokovic] made me believe that I can win any tournament I can play.”
Zverev will face seventh seed Jannik Sinner or qualifier Frances Tiafoe in the championship match as he bids to win his fifth tour-level crown of the season, having also triumphed in Acapulco and Madrid.
Alcaraz captured the second biggest win of his career by FedEx ATP Ranking when he upset World No. 7 Matteo Berrettini in the quarter-finals. But he could not match Zverev, with the German firing eight aces and saving the one break point he faced to secure victory.