(Reuters) – A look at the key facts and records of Germany’s Alexander Zverev and Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta before their U.S. Open semi-final on Friday (prefix number denotes seeding):
5-ALEXANDER ZVEREV
Age: 23
ATP ranking: 7 (Highest ranking: 3)
Grand Slam titles: 0
Career ATP titles: 11
2019 U.S. Open performance: Fourth round
Best U.S. Open performance: Semi-finals (2020)
ROAD TO SEMI-FINAL
First round: Kevin Anderson (South Africa) 7-6(2) 5-7 6-3 7-5
Second round: Brandon Nakashima (U.S.) 7-5 6-7(8) 6-3 6-1
Third round: 32-Adrian Mannarino (France) 6-7(4) 6-4 6-2 6-2
Fourth round: Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (Spain) 6-2 6-2 6-1
Quarter-finals: 27-Borna Coric (Croatia) 1-6 7-6(5) 7-6(1) 6-3
Zverev failed to get past the last-eight in his first 18 attempts at Grand Slams before reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open earlier this year.
The 23-year-old has come through tricky tests at Flushing Meadows to become the first German to reach the last-four since Boris Becker in 1995.
20-PABLO CARRENO BUSTA
Age: 29
ATP ranking: 27 (Highest ranking: 10)
Grand Slam titles: 0
Career ATP titles: 4
2019 U.S. Open performance: Third round
Best U.S. Open performance: Semi-finals (2017, 2020)
ROAD TO SEMI-FINAL
First round: Yasutaka Uchiyama (Japan) 4-6 6-3 1-6 6-3 6-3
Second round: Mitchell Krueger (U.S.) 6-1 6-2 6-2
Third round: Ricardas Berankis (Lithuania) 6-4 6-3 6-2
Fourth round: 1-Novak Djokovic 6-5 defaulted
Quarter-finals: 12-Denis Shapovalov (Canada) 3-6 7-6(5) 7-6(4) 0-6 6-3
Carreno Busta outlasted an erratic Denis Shapovalov over five sets in a see-sawing match that stretched over four hours to advance to his second U.S. Open semi-final.
The 29-year-old Spaniard, the oldest of the men’s semi-finalists at Flushing Meadows this year, is eyeing a place in his maiden Grand Slam final.
HEAD TO HEAD: Zverev leads 1-0
2018 Zverev d Carreno Busta 7-6(4) 6-2 (Miami, hard)
(Compiled by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
