Alexander Zverev Reaches US Open Semi-Finals After Tough Path
Alexander Zverev is back where New York now expects to see him — deep in the second week, under the bright lights, with his body pushed to the edge.
The German marched into the US Open semi-finals again, dismantling Botic van de Zandschulp 6-2, 7-5, 6-1 to book a showdown with Karen Khachanov. The scoreline looked routine. The road has been anything but.
Zverev’s brutal route, historic milestone
This is Zverev’s third semi-final at Flushing Meadows and his 13th at Grand Slam level, a number that underlines how firmly he has embedded himself among the game’s permanent fixtures.
He has also carved out a slice of history this season. According to Sky Sports News, Zverev is the only player to reach the semi-finals at all four majors this year. Melbourne, Paris, Wimbledon, New York — every one of them has had Zverev on its final weekend.
The price has been steep. By the time he walked off court against van de Zandschulp, he had spent 16 hours and 40 minutes on court at this US Open — the heaviest workload for a men’s semi-finalist in New York since records began in 1991. His first two matches went the full five sets. Since then, he has slammed the door shut in straight sets three times in a row.
The legs are tired. The numbers are emphatic.
Shaky start, ruthless finish
For a few early games, though, Zverev looked strangely ragged. He opened the match with five double faults, handing van de Zandschulp a glimmer of hope and the sense that the German’s tank might finally be running low.
It did not last.
Zverev broke in the fifth game of the first set, snapped into rhythm and never really let go. His serve steadied, his groundstrokes began to bite, and the Dutchman found himself scrambling just to stay in the rallies as the opener slipped 6-2.
The second set carried more tension. Van de Zandschulp dug in, pressed on Zverev’s service games and edged closer to levelling the match. The German, though, has spent the entire summer playing on a knife-edge in big moments. When the set tightened, he raised the tempo, surged through three straight games and stole it 7-5.
Any resistance effectively ended there. Zverev broke early in the third set, accelerated through his service games and closed the contest with the authority of a man who has grown used to these stages. What began with double faults ended with dominance.
Khachanov advances as Bloxs breaks down
Waiting for him in the semi-final is Karen Khachanov, who advanced in far more sobering circumstances.
The Russian led Belgian Alexander Bloxs 6-2, 7-5, 3-2 when Bloxs retired from their quarter-final, his body no longer able to carry him through. He had come into the match nursing a rib injury and looked patched together from the start — brace on his right ankle, bandage on his thigh, repeated calls for the trainer as the match wore on.
Khachanov did what professionals must do in that situation: kept his level, held his nerve and forced his opponent to find answers his body simply did not have. The result sent him into the US Open semi-finals for the first time since 2022 and into his first Grand Slam semi-final of any kind since the 2023 Australian Open.
It is a return to the sharp end of the sport for a player who has always possessed the weapons to live there — heavy serve, punishing baseline game, a temperament that rarely betrays panic.
A semi-final loaded with mileage and meaning
So they meet again in New York: Zverev, the man who has quietly turned 2024 into a season of relentless major consistency, and Khachanov, back on a big stage he has been desperate to revisit.
One arrives with the heaviest legs in the draw and a historic clean sweep of semi-finals across the four Slams. The other arrives fresher, via retirement, but with his own story of resurgence.
The question now is simple and brutal, the way it always is in the closing days of a major: whose body, and whose nerve, will hold when New York turns up the heat one more time?
