AO day 11 live: Alexander Zverev ‘absolutely crushed’ Carlos Alcaraz

Alexander Zverev is into the Australian Open semi-final. Photo: Getty Images

Carlos Alcaraz was one of the favourites to take out the Australian Open but a stunning boilover has flipped the script on the tournament.

World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz has been wiped off the court in spectacular scenes as sixth seed Alexander Zverev booked his place in the semi-finals with a 6-1 6-3 6-7 6-4 stunner.

Alcaraz had only dropped one set all tournament and appeared untroubled as he appeared headed for a world No. 1 shootout with Novak Djokovic.

If the pair had met in the final, the winner would take the mantle of the world’s best player as well as the 2024 Australian Open champion.

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But that possibility was blown away after Zverev played two and a half near perfect sets against the heavily favoured 20-year-old Spaniard.

“That is the finest win of his career,” Todd Woodbridge said on Channel 9 after completing the win.

The 26-year-old German stunned the crowd early as he dominated the heavily favoured Alcaraz, breaking him twice in the opening set to wrap it up in less than 30 minutes.

Zverev’s serve was deadly, landing 89 per cent first serves, while Alcaraz was at just 55 per cent.

On Nine commentary, Jim Courier said: “There’s only been two rallies over nine shots. Alcaraz has won both of those and he’s just getting absolutely crushed in the mid-range points. 11-1 in the five-shot rallies.

“I’ve never seen Alcaraz get dominated like this in general but certainly in those points where it starts to become more athletic the longer the points.”

Zverev was on fire. Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images

It didn’t get much better for Alcaraz as Zverev wrapped up the second in 42 minutes to take a commanding lead.

Courier added: “It continues to be a ridiculous level of tennis from Zverev across the board especially with first serve.”

After serving 89 per cent first serves in in the first set, Zverev improved slightly to 90 per cent in the second set — Alcaraz improved as well from 55 per cent to 67 per cent.

The third set appeared more of the same as the wheels all but fell off Alcaraz in the fourth game of the third set when he double faulted when going for a 200km/h second serve to hand Zverev the break point, which he converted as the Spaniard followed it up with an unforced error.

The attention quickly turned to the 20-year-old’s box where his team had appeared to be giving the Spaniard nothing.

Courier said it was “self immolation”.

“It has been one-way traffic for Alexander Zverev,” Todd Woodbridge commented.

“When you’re coming along and you are young, you still play a match or two where you say that was a junior match.

“We don’t talk like that about Alcaraz but this is one of those matches for him.

“This is a match that he has to look back at and go I did not engage like the number two player in the world.”

Alcaraz wasn’t just beaten, he was demolished. Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Alcaraz finally showed some fight down 5-3 in the third, finally claiming a break point to bring the match back on serve before forcing a tie-break.

In what will be a learning curve for Zverev, he didn’t go for the kill and was defending, trying to allow Alcaraz to make errors but the plan backfired as the Spaniard forced a tie-break before dominating to send the match to a fourth.

While it appeared Alcaraz had finally woken up, a break in the ninth game meant Zverev was serving for the match, and he made no mistake, wrapping up the match in just over three hours.

Alexander Zverev earns his first-ever Grand Slam win against a top-5 by beating Carlos Alcaraz 6-1, 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-4. Back to the #AusOpen semi-finals four years later.

Played a perfect match to lead 6-1, 6-3, 5-2, got there 50 minutes later.

— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) January 24, 2024

WOW ZVEREV TAKES OUT ALCARAZ IN 4!!!!
CRAZYYY!!!
will say he was limping at the end. Wonder how physically he will be for Medvedev.
Shock.#AO

— Corbin vaughan (@Corbovaughan1) January 24, 2024

i can’t believe alcaraz lost i’m?!

— alvira🇵🇸 (@kiwixnasty) January 24, 2024

The result is the German’s first win over a top five player in a grand slam match.

The win pits Zverev against 3rd seed Daniil Medvedev on Friday.

The pair have had bitter rivalry in recent times.

Having played 18 times, it’s 11-7 to Medvedev, including five of their last six meetings dating back to the 2023 Indian Wells tournament.

“He’s been kicking my a**e a lot over the last year or so,” Zverev said.

“But maybe this will be it. This will be the place. I don’t know.”

The other men’s final will be Jannik Sinner Vs Novak Djokovic.

In the women’s draw, 12th seed Qinwen Zheng booked her place in the semi-finals against Ukrainian qualifier Dayana Yastremska, who will play Thursday night.

The other semi-final between No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka and No. 4 seed Coco Gauff will open the night session from 7.30pm AEDT.

9.55pm – Zheng stuns but AO haven’t learned lesson

Another day, another early morning Australian Open finish.

12th seed Qinwen Zheng defeated Anna Kalinskaya 6-7 6-3 6-1 in two hours and 20 minutes to book a place in a semi-final.

It’s on the 10-year anniversary of Li Na’s 2014 Australian Open title.

Li was the first player male or female representing an Asian country to win a grand slam title, having won the 2011 French Open and 2014 AO.

Zheng will break into the top 10 for the first time regardless of what will happen, and will face Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska in the semi-final.

“Last year at the Australian Open I said I wanted to be top 10 and one year later, I’m here,” Zheng said when told on court by Jelena Dokic.

But the three hour clash has again made it a late night for Aussie fans with the men’s clash between Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz starting after 10pm.

Before the tournament began, the Australian Open organisers decided to play an extra day in 2024, claiming it would “minimise late finishes while continuing to provide a fair and equitable schedule on the stadium courts”.

However, the words have proven to be hollow.

@AustralianOpen
Don’t you think your scheduling could be better #AusOpen.
Repeatedly scheduling very late matches, two semifinalists getting an extra day of rest.
You could do better.
You should do better

— Pradeep K Jaisingh (@Healthstarter) January 24, 2024

Can someone explain to me why the mens quarter finals are starting post 11pm every night? Two nights in a row I’ve loved the match ups and haven’t been able to watch… Lots of viewers lost because of this scheduling #AusOpen

— Ashton Ryder (@AshtonRyder7) January 24, 2024

Terrible scheduling. Women’s 12th v 75th seeds at 7 pm. Most Australian viewers won’t get to watch the men’s 2nd v 6th seeds play late tonight.

— Alex Oliver (@AlexKOliver) January 24, 2024

Tuesday’s final match started at 10.20pm AEDT, before the straight sets win for Jannik Sinner over Andrey Rublev finished at 1.25am.

Let’s hope it doesn’t go the distance.

9pm – Zheng fights back

Qinwen Zheng has finally broken Anna Kalinskaya’s serve after duking it out for 96 minutes on Rod Laver Arena. The pair were locked in a tight battle, with the Russian taking the first set in the tie-break.

Zheng fought her way back into the match at 4-3, snagging a crucial break point to then serve out the set 6-3.

Zheng Qinwen has held on to take the second set 6-3.

6pm – Underdog stuns but Medvedev reigns supreme

Hubert Hurkacz was fighting for his life in the fifth set and pulled off some ridiculous shots to hang on after Daniil Medvedev broke his serve at 3-3.

One rally saw a volley from Hurkacz soar over Medvedev’s head, catching him off guard as it stayed in play by a hair. Medvedev returned the ball well, but Hurkacz was ready at the net to hit one of the best drop shots seen this week.

“Talk about guys digging deep, this is amazing,” John McEnroe said.

But it wasn’t enough for him to break back, as Medvedev held serve and brought it to 5-3.

Hurkacz responded with an excellent love service game to bring it to 5-4.

But in the end, the world No. 3 was too good and closed out the set with a crafty drop shot.

The final score was 7-6 2-6 6-3 5-7 6-4.

World No. 3 Daniil Medvedev has progressed to his third semi final at Melbourne Park.

5pm – Medvedev falters as QF goes to fifth set

Hubert Hurkacz has found a second wind in the fourth set, fighting back from 4-2 to even it out to 5-5 for an opportunity to serve his way to a fifth set decider.

Medvedev has started to look a little sluggish, and the Polish star has punished his blunders, regularly coming to the net to volley and put pressure on the world No. 3.

Hurkacz held serve and sent it to 6-5, and then pulled off a stunning break to seal the set 7-5.

4pm – Hurkacz punches back, but Medvedev has answers

Ninth seed Hubert Hurkacz has taken the fight back to Daniil Medvedev in the second set, securing an early break before taking it 6-2. The pair, both standing just short of 2m, are locked in a fierce battle in the quarterfinal, with Medvedev still the favourite to advance to the semi-finals.

The Russian is on a campaign to take his second grand slam title after being ousted in the final here at Melbourne Park in 2021 and 2022.

He regained some momentum in the third set, breaking Hurkacz’s serve to eventually take it 6-3.

He then snagged another early break off the Polish star to begin the fourth set.

Russia's Daniil Medvedev is on a mission to reign supreme at this year’s Australian Open.

2.55pm – Medvedev takes the opening set

The third seeded Russian star claimed the opening set in a back and forth contest as he closed it out in a tie-breaker.

While it didn’t last as long as yesterday’s game, the opening set came in at 54 minutes. Thankfully we’ve got four hours up our sleeves until the night session commences.

1.45pm – Coco Gauff responds to hat storm

The hat worn by the husband of Ukrainian star Marta Kostyuk during her quarter-final loss to Coco Gauff on Tuesday has caused outrage.

Kostyuk’s husband wore an unexplained snap back cap that included the term “shake your cocos” and a picture of a coconut split into two pieces.

Gauff, who won dour the encounter 7-6 6-7 6-2, responded on Instagram on Tuesday night with a sledge of her own.

The American shared a video of her win on match point on her Instagram stories and included a caption of “shakey shake”.

Coco Gauff got the last laugh against Marta Kostyuk and her husband.

Fans on social media described the message on the hat as “offensive” and “disgusting” with some suggesting the caption could have been viewed by some as making a comment about Gauff’s race and ethnicity.

The motivation behind the hat has not been made public.

Australian Open day 11 schedule and results

Rod Laver Arena

Dayana Yastremska (UKR) defeated Linda Noskova (CZE) 6-3 6-4

[3] Daniil Medvedev (RUS) vs [9] Hubert Hurkacz (POL)

[12] Qinwen Zheng (CHN) vs Anna Kalinskaya (RUS) – from 7:15pm

[2] Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) vs [6] Alexander Zverev (GER)

1.45pm – ‘This is nuts’: Qualifier makes history

Dayana Yastremska has become the first qualifier in 46 years to reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open.

The Ukrainian overcame Linda Noskova 6-3 6-4 to become the first player since 1978 to reach the final four after beginning her campaign in qualifying.

Yastremska has now won eight straight matches at Melbourne Park this year and will now face the winner of the match between Qinwen Zheng and Anna Kalinskaya for a spot in the final.

American tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg wrote on Twitter: “If (Emma) Raducanu hadn’t just won a whole Slam as a qualifier in 2021, we would realise how nuts this is”.

12pm – Nick Kyrgios’ sobering career admission

Nick Kyrgios’ playing time on the court may have come to an end after the Aussie made a sobering admission on Wednesday.

In a column for the Sydney Morning Herald, the 28-year stated his “time in the sport may be over” after sitting down with his agent, Stuart Duguid.

The Aussie sensation hasn’t played since June last year when he appeared at the Stuttgart Open, a match he lost in the opening round.

Since then he has made the move to behind the microphone, appearing at the Australian Open as a member of Eurosport and ESPN’s coverage.

The Aussie could be hanging up the racquet. (Photo by Saeed KHAN / AFP)

“It’s a conversation that needed to be had. I’m at a crossroads in my career and have reached a point where life after tennis is a prospect that excites me,” wrote Kyrgios

“It’s why my manager brought it up. He said, “This could be you from now on if you want it to be.

“I could travel the world making really good money commentating on the sport, doing things like I am now with my talk show interviewing guys like Gordon Ramsay and Mike Tyson.

“That’s a life people wish they had. Even the players on the circuit would love to be doing what I am doing now, but they have a different way of thinking. They don’t have the global reach that I do. Otherwise, they would be doing it too. Their entire world revolves around playing tennis, and that’s never been me.”

Kyrgios’ life away from tennis is more enticing. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)

While he’s still hoping to overcome his injury concerns and get back on the court in time for Wimbledon, Kyrgios says even if he regains full fitness there’s one arena he won’t be returning too.

“One thing I will guarantee, though, is that if I am fit and ready to play, I won’t be making myself available for the Olympics,” he added.

“The way I was treated by the Australian Olympic Committee and former chef de mission Kitty Chiller will never be forgotten.

“To ban me from playing at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games was a disgrace. I was No. 13 at the time and had a genuine chance at winning a medal. For them to forbid me from representing my country for behavioural reasons is something that I just can’t forget.”

10am – Teen investigated over handshake drama

A scandal has erupted at the Australian Open with a teenage player investigated over a handshake incident.

Sixteen-year-old Ukrainian Yelyzaveta Kotliar is under investigation by her home country’s tennis federation after she was seen shaking hands with Russia’s Vlada Mincheva following their round-one match at Melbourne Park.

The burning issue of relations between Russian and Ukrainian players has divided the world since the start of the war between the two countries.

The situation took another twist this week with confirmation the Ukrainian Tennis Federation is looking into Kotliar’s exchange with her Russian opponent where the pair shook hands following Mincheva’s 6-2 6-4 victory.

The handshake at the Australian Open.

The governing body described it as an “unpleasant incident” and said the teenager had made a mistake.

Her father Konstantin Kotliar has since addressed the issue.

“The atmosphere here is extraordinary, which in itself puts a lot of pressure on the athletes,” he said in a statement released by the UTF.

“At the beginning of your career, it’s hard to cope with this and not be nervous. Unfortunately, my daughter didn’t feel calm, her emotions were running high, so she wasn’t completely in control of her behaviour.

“She automatically performed the post-match ritual, not realising that behind the net there was a representative of the country who launched the attack on our homeland.

“It was definitely a mistake that Liza regrets and assures us that she will never allow anything like that to happen again.”