Alexander Zverev names Stefanos Tsitsipas disappointment after Indian Wells upset loss
Andy Murray says he's in the 'bad books' after losing ring
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Alexander Zverev has admitted he wants to “go home” following his three-set defeat to Taylor Fritz in Indian Wells. The world No 4 served for a spot in the semi-finals and held match points but Fritz was able to break back and force a final set tiebreak. Zverev has since admitted that the loss hurt even more after one of his rivals Stefanos Tsitsipas lost his quarter-final to Nikoloz Basilashvili, as the German said it left him as the “favourite” to win the title.
Zverev led by 5-2 in the fifth and final set but was unable to hold on as the world No 39 stormed back to save two match points and force a final set tiebreak, playing near-perfect in the breaker to secure a 4-6 6-3 7-6(3) victory over the world No 4 and make his maiden Masters semi-final.
The German had already notched some impressive wins in the Californian desert, winning a tight two-set tussle against former world No 1 Andy Murray 6-4 7-6(4) and looking dominant against Gael Monfils as he beat the 14th seed 6-1 6-3.
He went into his quarter-finals against Fritz as the heavy favourite, having five Masters 1000 titles under his belt while the 23-year-old had never made a semi-final.
However, he found himself on the receiving end of the second upset of the day, after second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas lost his own quarter-final to Nikoloz Basilashvili 4-6 6-2 4-6 shortly before Zverev took to the court.
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After losing to Fritz, the 17-time title winner explained that the defeat was even more difficult to take after Tsitsipas’ loss earlier in the day.
“This one hurts because I knew that after Stefanos lost this morning, I was kind of the favourite to win this tournament, but my tennis wasn’t there yet,” the 24-year-old told reporters after the match.
He is next scheduled to play the ATP 500 in Vienna, beginning on the week of October 25, but admitted he wanted to “go home” after crashing out in Indian Wells.
Speaking on the rest of his season, Zverev said: “My next tournament is Vienna. Hoping I can deal with it well there, but right now I just want to go home. I want to just be at home, to be honest.”
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Meanwhile, the American was unsurprisingly good spirits after what he called the “best win of his career”.
“Obviously he’s 3 in the world. This is the farthest I’ve ever been in a big tournament,” Fritz said.
“It’s easily the best win of my life, against a really tough opponent on arguably the biggest match I could possibly play. So it’s great.”
Fritz held on to save a match point while serving at 2-5 in the third and a costly double fault from Zverev on his second match point at 5-3 helped the American stay alive in the competition.
“I was able to get out of those match points,” the world No 39 said.
“I mean, the one on his serve, which is obviously the most dangerous one, he double-faulted.
“The one on my serve, I played a solid point. I made a pretty good pickup off a deep ball. I easily could have missed that.
“I just told myself I really needed to hold that game just to kind of fight through that. I really wanted to make him have to serve out the match.”
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