Pick of the Day: Alexander Zverev vs. Carlos Alcaraz, Australian Open

Alcaraz ran Zverev off the court at the US Open, but this match should be a bit more competitive.

Carlos Alcaraz is coming off a dominant 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 win over Miomir Kecmanovic in the fourth round of the Australian Open. The Spaniard will now face Alexander Zverev for a spot in the semifinals. Zverev needed four hours and nine minutes to squeeze out a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (3) win over Cameron Norrie in his last match, but he did enough to set up a US Open rematch with Alcaraz. The Spaniard earned a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win over Zverev in the quarterfinals of that event, so it’s interesting that they’re meeting in the same spot here. But Zverev was dealing with an unusual scheduling situation heading into that match, as his meeting with Jannik Sinner in the round before drained him. He won’t be in as bad of shape here, even though Norrie gave him a real scare.

“I’m not like the US Open where I was completely dead and where I felt like I’m physically exhausted,” Zverev said after his fourth-round win in Melbourne. He later reiterated, “I’m not in the same physical state I was in at the US Open.”

Zverev might just be trying to scare Alcaraz a bit with those comments, but I’ll take him at his word. After all, the 26-year-old only needed two hours and two minutes to beat Alex Michelsen before defeating Norrie—so he has spent about six hours on court over his last two matches. When he faced Alcaraz in New York, Zverev’s previous two matches combined to be over eight hours. That’s a pretty big difference.