Home hero Zverev fights back to reach Munich final four

Top seed Alexander Zverev defeated Tallon Griekspoor in three tight sets on Friday to keep his hopes alive of claiming a third Munich Open title in Germany.

The German entered the match as a $1.28 favourite with the top tennis bookmakers, despite having lost to Griekspoor just last month at the Indian Wells Masters.

History almost repeated itself as the Dutchman gained a lead after winning the opening set in a tiebreak, 8-6.

The world No.37 then went up a break early on in the second, swinging live tennis betting odds decisively in his favour.

However, Zverev played himself back into the contest just in time, breaking Griekspoor as he served for the match and winning a subsequent tiebreak to claim the second set.

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In the third, both men had their opportunities, but it was Zverev who capitalised, edged out Griekspoor 6-4 to exact his revenge for last month’s close loss.

“I’m extremely happy. Finally, I won a close one,” Zverev said.

“I’ve lost a few of those in the past few months and I always said, ‘I need to get one of these’. I did today.

I’m extremely happy with how I hung in there, especially in the third set, being 0/40 down in my second service game.

“I’m proud to win this match and looking forward to the next two, hopefully.”

Zverev is now the heavy favourite on tennis betting apps to win the Munich Open, priced at $1.90 by Bet365.

He takes on Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan in the semi-finals, who beat Belgian Zizou Bergs in straight sets to make the final four.

Leading betting apps give Zverev a -3.5-game handicap ($1.66) against Marozsan and pay just $1.22 for him to win.

In the day’s other quarter-finals, second seed Ben Shelton snapped Luciano Darderi’s seven-match winning streak, while fifth seed Francisco Cerundolo raced past David Goffin.

BetOnline has Cerundolo at just $1.30 to win their semi-final, with Shelton at a long $3.50 given his inexperience on clay.

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