Read & Watch: Zverev Fights Off Fonseca To Reach SFs

Alexander Zverev held off a strong challenge from Brazilian teen Joao Fonseca Friday to reach the Rolex Monte-Carlo semi-finals with a 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-3 victory in two hours, 40 minutes.

He learned an important lesson in the process: If you have your foot on your opponent’s throat, don’t remove it until the job is finished.

Zverev played aggressive and near-flawless tennis to lead 7-5, 3-1, but with the finish line in sight he reverted to a more conservative mindset… and paid the price.

In contrast, Fonseca stepped up his aggression, having largely played controlled tennis to that point rather than unleashing his massive forehand. The 19-year-old played with flair and determination to take the second set in a tie-break but a lapse in intensity in the sixth game of the third set cost him the decider.

“It’s the first week of clay for all of us, so it won’t be the prettiest tennis,” Zverev said. “The best set of tennis was the third set for me, so that shows improvement. I’m still mistiming some balls but I’d rather do that and be in the semis than play perfectly and go out in the first round.”

On Saturday Zverev will play the winner of Felix Auger-Aliassime and Jannik Sinner, who defeated the German in the Indian Wells and Miami semi-finals last month.

Becoming just the fourth man in Masters 1000 history (since 1990) to reach 10 clay-court semi-finals at this level, Zverev improved to an 18-5 match record on the season.

Zverev has reached the semi-finals of six of the past seven Masters 1000s dating back to Canada. But he has not reached a Masters 1000 final since Paris 2024, when he won the title.

Zverev, 28, has lost seven straight matches against Sinner, who leads their head-to-head 8-4. He has lost his past two meetings with Auger-Aliassime but leads their rivalry 6-4.

In the two sets that he won Friday, Zverev dropped just three points on his first serve. Through the first third of the match his aggression — particularly off the backhand wing — denied Fonseca the opportunity to regularly run around his backhand.

Shifting to a more aggressive mindset during his fightback in the second set, Fonseca did go after his forehand more, finishing the match with 20 winners off the wing. But 46 unforced errors to Zverev’s 34 proved costly.