HALLE: Alexander Zverev鈥檚 quest for a first grasscourt title took an unexpected turn at the Halle Open on Friday when the German second seed was forced to sprint from court to vomit mid-match before rallying to defeat Italy鈥檚 Flavio Cobolli 6-4, 7-6(8).
Second seed Zverev started the match on the front foot by breaking in the first game but as he was serving in the second, he requested a toilet break to throw up and bolted down the tunnel.
Once he returned, Zverev struggled with the intensity at first and clearly looked unwell, bending over in exhaustion after points and gasping for breath after a marathon rally.
鈥淚 felt fine before the match. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I felt really, really bad. I felt ill, went to throw up and then 15 minutes later I felt OK again,鈥 Zverev said.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what it was, I鈥檝e never experienced that before. I hope I鈥檒l be fine in the next couple of hours when the adrenaline settles. After that I think it was a pretty good match.鈥
Although nowhere near 100%, Zverev held serve as he slowly drew on his reserves of energy, firing his first ace of the match on set point.
The second set was an even contest as Cobolli relied on his movement to continue troubling Zverev, but the German eventually triumphed in a close tiebreak, finishing the match with 22 winners and 12 points at the net.
The semi-final will pit Zverev against Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev, a familiar foe who holds a 12-7 head-to-head advantage over him and has won their last three meetings.
Medvedev moved into the semi-finals with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over American Alex Michelsen despite suffering a nosebleed in the second set which forced the 2021 Halle runner-up to take a medical timeout.
However, the Russian served well to deny his opponent a single break point opportunity and wrapped up the contest in 85 minutes as he reached the last four without dropping a set, with the only thing causing problems being the shadows on the court.
鈥淭he shadows on the court made the conditions quite difficult. It took some time to get used to it. It was then better in the second set,鈥 said Medvedev, who will return to the top 10 ahead of Wimbledon.
The other semi-final will feature 2023 champion Alexander Bublik 鈥 who knocked out last year鈥檚 winner Jannik Sinner 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the second round on Wednesday 鈥 taking on eighth seed Karen Khachanov, who beat Tomas Etcheverry 6-3, 6-2.
Bublik fired 37 winners in his 7-6(2), 6-3 victory over Tomas Machac, hitting passing shots with languid ease to entertain the crowd while he fired a searing backhand down the line on match point to advance.
In Wednesday鈥檚 late match, 45th-ranked Bublik handed the 23-year-old Sinner his first defeat to a player ranked outside the top 20 since the summer of 2023.
But Sinner said that he is looking forward to a bit of unexpected down-time to better prepare for Wimbledon.
鈥淚 came here (to Halle), I gave it my all after the Roland Garros defeat, it wasn鈥檛 easy,鈥 he added. 鈥淒espite everything I鈥檓 happy enough.
鈥淚鈥檝e played two matches before Wimbledon, if there鈥檇 been more it would have been even better.
鈥淣ow I鈥檝e got to boost myself both mentally and physically, that takes a little time but for Wimbledon everything will be fine.鈥
Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2025