The fairytale run continued for Mischa Zverev as he produced a bold display of tennis on Sunday, breaking top seed Andy Murray eight times to post a shocking 7-5, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 victory in the fourth round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
"It was definitely the best match of my life," said Zverev. "Not only because it was a best-of-five set match, it was at a slam. It was just incredible."
It was an inspired serve-and-volley performance from Zverev, who had watched from the player box as his younger brother, Alexander Zverev, pushed Rafael Nadal to five sets on Saturday. With the win, Mischa Zverev moves into his first Grand Slam quarter-final. He now plays No. 17 seed Roger Federer, who beat fifth seed Kei Nishikori 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-1 4-6, 6-3. Federer leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 2-0.
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Competing in the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time, Zverev was unawed by his surroundings on Rod Laver Arena. He rallied from 0-3 down in the first set by forcing Murray out of his game and even producing some vintage serve-and-volley moments, ultimately grabbing the opening set.
But Murray was not going to go away quietly. Although both players struggled on serve in the second set, with five of the 12 games highlighted by service breaks, the top seed was able to take control in most of the baseline rallies. With Zverev serving at 5-6, Murray rifled a backhand winner on his first set point to level the match at one set each.
Zverev cleaned up his serve considerably in the third set, landing 74 per cent of his first serves. He also continued to put pressure on Murray with his return, breaking the top seed twice to take a commanding advantage in the match.
The German opened up the fourth set with an early break of serve and held his slight advantage the rest of the way. Serving for the match at 5-4, a forehand error from Murray wrapped up the contest in three hours and 33 minutes.
"I believed in myself. I believed in my game," said Zverev. "I believed that playing serve and volley against him and slicing a lot, trying to destroy his rhythm was going to work, which it did in the end.
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"I felt comfortable going for three, four sets, even though it wasn't that hot, but it was still pretty warm. I felt like I could hang in there with him, sometimes rally and come in quickly. I feel like everything just worked out well."
The win records a remarkable career turnaround over the past two years for Zverev, who was ranked No. 1,067 in the Emirates ATP Rankings in March 2015. The 29 year old made great strides back up the standings in 2016, returning to the Top 100 after a run to the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters (l. to Djokovic) and closing in on the Top 50 after making the semi-finals of the Swiss Indoors Basel (l. to Cilic).
Zverev was competing in the round of 16 at a major for the first time after saving two match points to topple John Isner in five sets in the second round.