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Alexander Zverev booked his place in the semifinals of the 2024 Australian Open on Wednesday, taking down World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz in four sets on Rod Laver Arena.
The German looked on course for a straight-sets win, serving for the match at 5-3 in the third set. Alcaraz, though, found form at the right time to take the set to a tiebreaker, which he won to force a fourth set. Eventually, Zverev proved too much for the young Spaniard, winning 6-1, 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-4.
In his on-court interview afterwards, Alexander Zverev had to wait for a moment before he could start savoring the win. Following Jim Courier's first question, a protestor in the crowd yelled out:
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"Free free Palestine!"
The German did not look pleased with the interruption, a sentiment that was shared by the crowd in Melbourne Park as well. A loud round of boos rang out from the stands before Courier and Zverev restarted their conversation.
It should be noted that Zverev's fourth-round clash against Cameron Norrie was also interrupted by pro-Palestine protestors.
At the time, they threw leaflets calling for ceasefire in Gaza and Palestine. Their protests are in light of the violence being rained down on the country by Israel over the last few months.
Alexander Zverev to take on Daniil Medvedev in Australian Open SF
Following his win over Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev will lock horns with Daniil Medvedev in the semifinal of the 2024 Australian Open on Friday. Unlike Zverev, Medvedev needed five sets to get through to the semis, beating Hubert Hurkacz 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.
Medvedev leads the head-to-head record against Zverev 11-7, having won five of their last six meetings. Interestingly, this is the first time the pair will face off at a Grand Slam.
Looking forward to the clash, Zverev said he hopes to turn the tide against the former World No. 1 in Melbourne.
"Yeah, he's been kicking my a** a lot over the last over the last year or so. But maybe this will be it, this will be the place. I mean, I don't know. I'm counting on all of you guys (for) support," he said during the on-court interview.
The other semifinal will be contested by top seed Novak Djokovic and World No. 4 Jannik Sinner.
