PARIS-. Alexander Zverev beat Álex de Miñaur on Wednesday 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-4 to reach the semifinals of the French Open for the fourth consecutive year.
Zverev extended his winning streak to 11, which includes a clay-court title at the Italian Open last month. The German's victory against the Australian De Miñaur, seeded eleventh, on the Philippe Chatrier court will pit him against Casper Ruud, the two-time runner-up at Roland Garros, on Friday.
Zverev, seeded fourth, competes in Paris while legal proceedings against him continue in his native Germany, related to accusations of marital violence towards an ex-girlfriend of his.
Friday's other men's semifinal will feature Jannik Sinner, the second seed who won the Australian Open in January, against third seed Carlos Alcaraz, who owns two Grand Slam trophies.
None of the four men left in the draw have won the French Open, and this will be the first title match in Paris since 2004 without Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer.
Thursday's women's semifinals will pit number one Iga Swiatek against third-ranked Coco Gauff, followed by Jasmine Paolini (12th) against 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva.
Djokovic was the defending men's champion, but withdrew from the tournament on Tuesday due to a right knee injury, allowing Ruud to advance.
Djokovic will be replaced by Sinner at the top of the ATP rankings starting Monday.
Zverev, who is 0-3 in the French Open semifinals, is looking to win his first Grand Slam title, the same situation as Ruud, the seventh seed who lost in the Roland Garros finals in 2022 (against Nadal) and 2023 (against Djokovic) and at the United States Open in 2022 (against Alcaraz).
Zverev lost to Dominic Thiem in the 2020 US Open final and won a singles gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.
After eliminating 14-time champion Nadal in the first round, Zverev was coming off a pair of five-setters in the third and fourth rounds. This victory was much less difficult, although it could have been complicated when De Miñaur was one point away from tying at one set because in the tiebreak he took a 4-0 lead, before the German added seven of the next eight points.
The third set seemed to turn the tide when the Australian double faulted to lose serve and fall behind 2-4. However, when Zverev served for the victory at 5-3, his opponent extended the match, which did not last much longer as the European broke again to end the match.
The match was marred as they combined for more than twice as many unforced errors (101) as winners (48).
