Alexander Zverev booked his place in the Hamburg Open semi-finals with a straight-sets victory over Zhizhen Zhang. (More Tennis News)
T꧂he top seed - and reig🍰ning champion - kept his title defence very much on track, prevailing 6-4 6-3 after 66 minutes on Center Court.
Zverev dominated on serve du⛄ring the opening set, dropping just three points, while a break in game five paved the way for him to move halfway towards victory.
The homꦚe favourite made another statement of intent when he broke in the opening game of the🐽 second set.
Another break followed at 5-3 to secure victory and send the Italian Open champio🃏n through to his seventh ATP semi-final of the season - and third on clay, having also reached the French Open final.
There, he will play Pedro M﷽artinez after the Spaniard beat fo🐻urth seed Francisco Cerundolo in three sets.
Data Debrief: Statement of intent from Zverev
The German demonstrated his desire to🔴 maintain his hold on the trophy he won in front of his home crowd last season, and become only the third player this century to successfully defend the crown after Roger Federer and Nikoloz Basilashviliꦚ.
Indeed, Zverev h♕it 10 aces and won 29 of 33 points on first serve (88%), while converting three of his four break-point opportunities.
