Zverev eases past Blockx to join Sinner in the final of the Madrid Open

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/zverev-alexander/dGbUhw9m/"]Zverev[/a], in strong form, claimed the first set against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/blockx-alexander/xll0TzGG/"]Blockx[/a] comfortably but struggled to break the Belgian in the second, before eventually finding a way through.[/p][p]"I'm very happy of course to be in a final," said Zverev, who lifted the trophy in Madrid in 2018 and 2021.[/p][p]"There were a lot of tough matches, a lot of tough battles... and I'm looking forward to playing [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sinner-jannik/6HdC3z4H/"]Jannik[/a] again.[/p][p][b]"Tennis is very very easy for him right now, the way he is playing. Maybe on Sunday I will make it a bit more difficult for him.[/b][/p][p][b]"He's the best player in the world for sure, and I'm just trying to give him a tough battle."[/b][/p][p]The 29-year-old broke in the first and fifth games to surge into a 5-1 lead against his unseeded opponent.[/p][embed guid="0693be3a-c2e1-4303-9f98-e5ea30c3c557" url="https://x.com/atptour/status/2050307477879636467" social-type="twitter" /][p]Underdog Blockx, ranked 69th in the world, resisted strong pressure on his next service game, saving three set points to hold.[/p][p]However, the dominant Zverev made no mistake with his fourth chance to wrap up the fourth stanza, laying down an ace.[/p][p]Blockx survived two break points in the first game of the second set and another in the third as Zverev worked him hard.[/p][p]The Belgian, who defeated [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ruud-casper/zN9UpRqp/"]Casper Ruud[/a] in the quarter-finals, put up a brave display as he saved two more break points in each of the seventh and ninth games.[/p][p]Eventually, Zverev took his eighth break point of the second set to nose 6-5 ahead, with a fortuitous net cord that broke Blockx's resistance.[/p][p]The German, who has suffered a string of semi-final defeats this season, made it to his first final with a powerful overhead winner.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/blockx-a-xll0TzGG/zverev-a-dGbUhw9m/?mid=6Fi3OdGD"]Click here for more on the match[/a][/b][/p][image alt="Match stats" id="6dfb9438-9a3f-496f-a8cc-d1922703538e" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="611a4bd5-2941-4d47-8e64-007078563d78" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /]