The German Alexander Zverev, world No.6, qualified for the quarter-finals of the Australian Open by dominating the Briton Cameron Norrie in five sets 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 4- 6, 7-6 (10/3), Monday in Melbourne.
Zverev, 26, defeated Norrie, 22nd in the world, after more than four hours of an intense fight. He reached the quarter-finals of the Australian tournament for the third time in his career after 2020 and 2021.
In total, he will play his 11th quarter-final in a Major.
To reach the final four, his best performance in Melbourne (2020), the German will face the winner of the duel between world No.2 Carlos Alcaraz and Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, who will be known later on Monday.
With 15 aces and a good first ball (76%), Zverev showed his power for a long time but Norrie managed to find solutions to stay in contact until the end.
The difference was made in a super one-sided tie-break at the end of the fifth set: the finalist of the US Open 2020 quickly took off and concluded on his first match point (10/3) .
The former world No.2 continues his good start to the season after leading the German team to victory in the United Cup at the beginning of January.