World No.6 Alexander Zverev stuns two-time champion and No.2 seed Roger Federer 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 in a dramatic quarterfinal with the point penalty for Federer being the main highlight of the match at the Shanghai Rolex Masters 2019. With this victory, Zverev also claimed his first top-10 victory of the 2019 season.

Set one

Roger Federer struggled in the match right from the start as he was not looking comfortable from the first point and couldn’t really get a foothold in the rallies. While Alexander Zverev started the match on a high note, holding his serve comfortably and putting continuous pressure on Federer’s serve. The Swiss maestro somehow managed to help his opening two service games.

However, the 20-time Grand Slam champion put Federer on the back foot as he broke his serve at 4-2. The German then went onto close the opening set 6-3 with an ace, holding his serve to love.

Zverev did not face a single breakpoint in his five service games of the first set. The 23-year-old also got 11 winners and troubled Roger Federer with the depth in his shots. On the other hand, Federer managed to hit only 6 winners compared to 6 unforced errors, giving an edge to the next-generation star.

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Set two 

Roger Federer lift up his game in the second set as he held his opening serve to love. On the other hand, Alexander Zverev hit 2 consecutive double faults to gift two breakpoints to the 38-year-old in the next game. A calm and composed Federer earned an early break and a passive game from Zverev put him on the back foot in the second set, tailing 0-2.

However, Alexander Zverev responded well as he struck back in the next game to get a rebreak with two passing shots. Zverev then broke Federer that 6-5 to serve for the match.

Roger Federer then went on to play his best tennis of the match as he saved three match points on Zverev’s serve and won five consecutive points to break back and force the set to the tiebreaker.

The Basel native earned the first mini-break in the tiebreaker to get a 4-3 lead. However, Zverev stepped up to win three consecutive points to earn the fourth set point on Federer’s serve but couldn’t get the advantage of it. He then got a mini-break to get another match point but squandered it. The Swiss then secured the second set 7-6(7) after saving 5 match points.

Set three

Alexander Zverev bagged an early break and held his opening two service games to get get a 3-0 lead. During the changeover, Roger Federer was annoyed at the umpire as he didn’t tell him about the ball change so he could switch racquets. He said,  “I got other issues man, I’m missing shots”.

In the next game, Roger Federer was once again involved in a heated exchange with the chair umpire as he was penalized with a point for hitting a ball to the audience. However, Federer fought as it was not hit with a force and the ball did not even went to the audience. He told Forcadell: “what were we talking about? Butterflies?”

While serving for the match at 5-3, Zverev made no mistakes whatsoever as he won the set 6-3 and secured his birth in the last four in Shanghai.

‘IT’S MY MOTHERFUCKING TIME NOW,’ announces Zverev after converting his sixth match point.

He will face the winner between Dominic Thiem and Matteo Berrettini in the semifinals of the 2019 Shanghai Masters 1000 on Saturday.