On Friday morning, Alexander Zverev secured his spot in the semifinals of the ATP 500 tournament in Halle, where he will take on former World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev as his next challenge. The German star reflected on the significance of his rivalry with the Russian player.
“I think it’s the guy I played the most in my career, so I’m looking forward to it,” Zverev said about Medvedev in his post-match interview following a 6-4, 7-6 victory over Flavio Cobolli in the quarterfinals, according to the official ATP Tour website. “Definitely he’s one of the toughest opponents in my career. It’s going to be a great match and I’m really looking forward to facing him.”
Throughout his professional career, Alexander has faced Daniil 19 times between 2016 and 2024. In that head-to-head, the Russian holds a clear advantage of 12-7—an even more dominant stat considering recent history: Medvedev has won 11 of their last 13 meetings.
Among those matchups are three finals, with two wins for Medvedev (2019 Shanghai Masters 1000 and 2020 Paris Masters 1000) and one for Zverev (2021 Nitto ATP Finals). Their most recent encounter came in the 2024 Australian Open semifinal, which Daniil won in five sets.
Russian star Daniil Medvedev
Despite the unfavorable numbers in their recent matches, Alexander Zverev does not feel intimidated. “A lot of things happened in the past 18 months,” he said, making it clear that things could play out differently this time.
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Medvedev is in great form
Despite the confidence Alexander Zverev has shown in himself, Saturday’s match won’t be an easy challenge. Daniil Medvedev has been in excellent form in Halle, where he reached an impressive career milestone: 400 career wins on the ATP Tour.
To reach the semifinals, the former World No. 1 defeated Daniel Altmaier and Quentin Halys in earlier rounds, before overcoming Alex Michelsen in Friday’s quarterfinal. He now looks to reach the fourth grass-court final of his professional career—and his second in Halle, after doing so in 2022.
Zverev faced issues against Cobolli
Although the quarterfinal matchup against Flavio Cobolli appeared relatively straightforward on paper, Zverev encountered unexpected difficulties. He felt unwell just minutes after the match began and had to take an unscheduled toilet break. “I felt fine before the match, and then out of nowhere I felt really, really bad and felt ill,” Alexander said, according to the official ATP Tour website.
“I went to throw up, and then 15 minutes later I felt okay again. So I don’t know what it was. I’ve never experienced that before, to be honest. Hopefully I will be fine the next couple of hours, when the adrenalin settles,” added the World No. 3. “After that, I think it was a pretty good match.”
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