Alexander Zverev suffered an agonizing defeat at the hands of American Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Indian Wells. Zverev, who was aiming to win his third ATP Masters 1000 title of the season, lost 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 to Fritz in a thrilling two hours and 22 minutes showdown.

Despite trailing 2-5 in the deciding set and being two match points down, Fritz conjured an incredible comeback to stun Zverev and reached his first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal.

Alexander Zverev upset over his performance

In the post-match conference, Zverev expressed his disappointment at having blown a chance to win the tournament. The German was visibly upset and mentioned he wanted to reach home to deal with the loss.

“Today mentally is not easy for me. My next tournament is in Vienna. Hoping I can deal with it well there, but right now I just want to go home,” said Zverev.

Before entering the match, Zverev had won 20 of his past 21 matches on hard courts. However, despite being so awfully close to victory, he failed to convert both match point opportunities.

Placed in the same half of the draw, the No.2 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas lost to Nikoloz Basilashvili in the quarterfinals, in what turned out to be another upset. After the exits of Zverev and Tsitsipas, Britain’s Cameron Norrie, who is seeded No.21, is now the top seed left in the final four at Indian Wells.

Norrie faces the 2017 ATP Nitto Finals champion, Grigor Dimitrov, in the semifinals. Grigor has been in scintillating form over the week, having ousted Reilly Opelka, Hubert Hurkacz, and the No.1 seed Daniil Medvedev, en route to the penultimate stage.

In the other semifinal, Fritz takes on Basilashvili, with both men aiming to reach their first-ever ATP Masters 1000 final. The duo have faced each other thrice, with Fritz having a 2-1 lead in their rivalry.

With the top three seeds already out, who do you think will lift the title?

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