French Open | Zverev beats high-flying Alcaraz, sets up Nadal SF clash

Alexander Zverev defeated teen sensation Carlos Alcaraz 6-4 6-4 4-6 7-6 in the quarterfinals of the French Open and will now face Rafael Nadal in the semifinals

Alexander Zverev appeared calm as a monk compared to the exuberance of his teenage opponent Carlos Alcaraz during their gruelling French Open quarterfinal on Tuesday and the German believes reining in his emotions was crucial to his win.

With the vast majority of the crowd at Court Philippe Chatrier rooting for the 19-year-old, who was on a 14-match winning streak, Zverev showed nerves of steel for the entire three hours and 18 minutes of the match.

"I think it was extremely important, because I knew that it was going to be a very long and very physical match, and I couldn't show too many emotions because that also makes you tired," Zverev told reporters.

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"That also drains the energy of you. So I had to stay calm. I had to stay calm throughout the whole match, even though I feel like I left chances in the third set behind, so I had to stay calm when I lost the third set.

"Had to stay calm when I didn't serve out the fourth set at 5-4. I think that was quite important how I came back in the game of 6-5. Then obviously in the tiebreak it was a back-and-forth, with quite good tennis."

Zverev will now face 13-time champion Rafael Nadal — who eliminated number one seed Novak Djokovic — in the semifinal on Friday.