Carlos Alcaraz crashes out of Aussie Open with loss to Zverev

Alexander Zverev made no mistake with his second chance to close out a victory over No. 2-ranked Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday night and advanced to an Australian Open semifinal against two-time finalist Daniil Medvedev .

Sixth-seeded Zverev had a break in the third set and missed a chance to serve out the victory, but he didn't blink the second time, finishing a 6-1, 6-3, 6-7 (2 ), victory 6-4.

Wimbledon champion Alcaraz was the only player to beat 10-time Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic in a Grand Slam match last year. He won't get the chance in Australia this time.

It was Zverev's first victory against a top-five player at a Grand Slam tournament, and the reward was a place in the semifinals for the seventh time at a major tournament. He will face Medvedev, who won a grueling four-hour match against Hubert Hurkacz 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

Zverev said he was recently beaten by Medvedev, but “maybe this will be it. Maybe this will be the perfect place.”

He got off to a good start against Alcaraz at Rod Laver Arena, dropping just two points on serve as he cruised through the first set in 29 minutes. He kept Alcaraz at arm's length and broke his serve twice in the second set.

The German was serving for the match at 5-3 in the third, just after midnight, when Alcaraz broke for the first time. Alcaraz got back to 5-5 when he launched a shot into the doubles court and hit a backhand down the line, flashing a big smile and shaking his racket in a gesture that suggested, “Hello, still here.”

He won the final seven points of the tiebreaker to make it 2-1, flashing a smile after winning four set points when he chased a ball wide and hit a forehand passing shot .

After an exchange of service breaks to open the fourth game, Zverev had another chance to close out the match after breaking in the ninth game. After securing victory, the Olympic gold medalist let out a cry of relief and clasped his arms in celebration around 1:20 a.m. local time.

“When you lead 6-1, 6-3, 5-2 against a player like Carlos, you start to think because we are all human,” Zverev said on court. “Your brain starts working and it's not always helpful, but I'm happy I got there in the end. I fought back pretty well in the fourth set and didn't let up.”

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.