Zverev Ends Fritz Curse, Reaches Wimbledon Semifinal for First Time

JAKARTA - Alexander Zverev finally solved the puzzle that he had been struggling to solve. The world number three stopped a streak of seven consecutive defeats from Taylor Fritz and ensured his move to the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time in his career.

Zverev dominated when he defeated the American with a score of 6-4, 6-4, and 6-2 in one hour and 59 minutes in the quarterfinal which took place on Wednesday, July 8, 2026, British time.

This victory extended Zverev's confidence after winning his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros last month. He is now the fifth German male tennis player in the Open Era (since 1968) who has been able to reach the Wimbledon top four.

"I hope I can still play two more matches here. However, for now I am very happy to reach the semifinals, especially against Taylor who has not beaten me for more than two years," said Zverev, quoted by the ATP website.

The achievement also makes Zverev the fifth active tennis player to reach the semifinals in all four Grand Slam tournaments, following Novak Djokovic, Marin Cilic, Carlos Alcaraz, and Jannik Sinner.

In the semifinals, Zverev will face host Arthur Fery to compete for a place in the final. Fery reached the last four by stopping Flavio Cobolli, a player currently ranked 10th in the world.

Prior to this year's edition, Zverev had never been able to get past the fourth round in his nine appearances at Wimbledon. If he manages to win the semi-final, he will regain the world number two spot from Carlos Alcaraz when the ATP rankings are updated at the beginning of next week.

From the start of the match, Zverev indeed predicted that the duel against Fritz would be determined by the serve. The prediction proved to be true. The 29-year-old German tennis player was very effective behind his serve and almost gave his opponent no room to develop the game.

After saving two break points on the opening service game, Zverev was again under pressure when serving to close the first set at 5-4. However, he came out of a difficult situation with two aces and two serves that his opponent was unable to return to secure the opening set.

Fritz asked for a medical break in the second set at 2-1 because of a problem with his right knee. Even though he was back playing, the world number seven was struggling to keep up with Zverev's intensity.

Fritz's biggest problem was seen when facing the second serve. In the first two sets, he was only able to win 44 percent of the points from his second serve. On the other hand, Zverev continued to press by standing closer to the baseline every time Fritz's first serve failed to go in.

Ironically, Fritz's first serve, which has been his mainstay weapon, was the turning point of the match. Zverev managed to return the ball very deep, taking over the rally, then taking advantage of the break point to open the way to a two-set lead.

After ensuring the second set was meaningless, Zverev was increasingly difficult to stop in the third set. Hard backhand and almost perfect serve made Fritz have no answer until the match ended.

This victory was one of Zverev's best performances on the grass court and opened the door for the Roland Garros champion to advance to his first Wimbledon final.