Australian Open 2025 Day 10 Quarter Final Recap

Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic won Tuesday’s Australian Open quarter-finals as both men progressed in four sets, albeit in vastly different circumstances.
Second-seeded Zverev played in the hot, humid day session, coming through 7-6(1) 7-6(0) 2-6 6-1 against Tommy Paul, despite the American serving for the opening two sets.
Novak Djokovic then saw off Carlos Alcaraz 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-4 in a windy night session, finding a way to play through a left leg injury by redlining his game and producing some unbelievable ball striking from the baseline to push Alcaraz aside.
Highlights and match stats are below.
Day Ten 2025 Australian Open Quarter Final Results

Winner | Loser | Scoreline |
---|---|---|
Novak Djokovic (7) | Carlos Alcaraz (3) | 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-4 |
Alexander Zverev (2) | Tommy Paul (12) | 7-6(1) 7-6(0) 2-6 6-1 |
Zverev Finds a Way Past Paul

Alexander Zverev is into his third Australian Open semi-final with a 7-6(1), 7-6(0), 2-6, 6-1 win over Tommy Paul in Tuesday’s first quarter-final.
After being the second-best player on the court for most of the opening stages, the German somehow found himself up two sets to love after saving points in both of the first two sets before dominating the tie breaks.
In the first set, Paul couldn’t serve it out and then had a set point on Zverev’s serve at 6-5 but errored and played a poor tiebreak to lose it 7-1.
In the second, Paul broke early but was undone by three consecutive forehand errors to relinquish his advantage. Zverev then saved a set point at 4-5 and dominated the tie-break 7-0 to go up two sets to love.
Paul finally got a set with the third, but in the fourth, Zverev played his best tennis of the match, saving two break points and closing it out 6-2. He fired 56 winners and won 74% of his net points.
Whereas Paul won both their previous matches to lead 2-0 in the H2H, this was their first meeting at the Grand Slam level, and I think that is why the match went the way of Zverev.
If this were a best-of-three ATP 250, Paul would have won handily, but at Majors, the American doesn’t have a stellar record—his best win in terms of opponent ranking is against Grigor Dimitrov, who was ranked 20th at the 2020 Australian Open!
Zverev, who also used to underperform at Slams, has upped his game recently and has proven tough to beat over five sets. In the more significant moments, he was way more reliable.
On the other hand, Paul committed 56 unforced errors, many on key points, allowing Zverev to take control with his solid baseline play.
To be honest, I should have been down two sets to love. He played better than me. I was not playing great and I thought he was. I somehow won the first set, somehow won the second set, and I’m up two sets to love all of a sudden and I need only one more set. The fourth set was definitely the best that I’ve played and I’m obviously extremely happy to be back in the semi-finals now. Two of the best players that probably ever touched a tennis racquet. Novak is the greatest of all time right now. Carlos is going to be one of them when he hangs it up, so it’s a clash of generations. They have played Grand Slam finals before. They played the Olympic final last year, so it’s a privilege to to witness it here in Australia… I think it’s it’s going to be a great match. Zverev on his win.
Match Stats
Tommy Paul | Alexander Zverev | |
---|---|---|
Aces | 9 | 7 |
Double Faults | 2 | 5 |
1st Serve Percentage | 64% (76/118) | 69% (93/135) |
1st Serve Points Won | 67% (51/76) | 72% (67/93) |
2nd Serve Points Won | 50% (21/42) | 52% (22/42) |
Break Points Saved | 43% (3/7) | 64% (7/11) |
Average 1st Serve Speed | 188km/h | 207km/h |
Average 2nd Serve Speed | 144km/h | 176km/h |
1st Return Points Won | 28% (26/93) | 33% (25/76) |
2nd Return Points Won | 48% (20/42) | 50% (21/42) |
Break Points Converted | 36% (4/11) | 57% (4/7) |
Winners | 44 | 27 |
Unforced Errors | 56 | 36 |
Net Points Won | 74% (35/47) | 73% (24/33) |
Service Points Won | 61% (72/118) | 66% (89/135) |
Return Points Won | 34% (46/135) | 39% (46/118) |
Total Points Won | 47% (118/253) | 53% (135/253) |
Service Games Won | 79% (15/19) | 80% (16/20) |
Return Games Won | 20% (4/20) | 21% (4/19) |
Total Games Won | 49% (19/39) | 51% (20/39) |
Highlights
Djokovic Downs Alcaraz

Novak, he’s overrated; Novak, he’s a has-been! Well, not quite, as the 10-time champion delivered an outstanding victory on Tuesday, overcoming Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in 3 hours and 37 minutes.
The match started with Djokovic taking advantage of Alcaraz’s slow start to lead 2-0. However, the break was soon relinquished after Carlos came out on top in a 26-shot rally en route to breaking back.
Midway through the first set, Djokovic struggled with a left leg issue that made moving out wide to his forehand difficult.
Alcaraz is far too good not to exploit that, and he broke to lead 5-4. Djokovic then took a medical timeout, but Alcaraz stayed warm and served the set to love.
Social media, of course, was full of fake injury and tactical medical timeout theories, but it’s evident from watching that Djoker struggled when pushed wide onto his forehand side. Based on the last three games of the opening set, his prognosis didn’t look good.
However, Djokovic isn’t just a one-trick pony who has to rely on his defensive abilities. Armed with some pain-killing medication, he responded in the second set by red-lining his game and going big on his forehand, breaking early for 3-0.
Alcaraz again hit back, mixing up his power and finessed drop shots, but as the set wore on, Djokovic raised his intensity, shortening the rallies even more as he broke again to level the match at one set a piece.
That trend continued into the third, with Djokovic taking big cuts at the ball, breaking twice en route to taking a two-set to-one lead.
The fourth started with Djokovic immediately breaking serve, an advantage he maintained throughout the set. He overcame several moments of adversity, including saving two points at 4-3 with some super clutch play before serving it out 6-4.
Now, onto Alcaraz. He came into Melbourne with a refined service motion (a positive tweak) but had a pretty poor serving day and didn’t hit his spots.
He also had a poor day on return, especially on the second serve (winning just 33%), and he plays this matchup a bit like Djokovic is in his head.
There was no cohesive game plan; it was just flashes of brilliance and dazzling shots, which are great to watch but don’t always win matches.
In that fourth set, Djokovic wasn’t serving well for the most part, and it just needed that little bit of unwavering focus from Alcaraz to get back level.
It’s easier said than done when facing one of the best guys in big moments, but I think he’ll be disappointed not to get back on serve in that eighth game.
Did he fall into the trap of thinking a hampered Djokovic would give up without a fight and then struggle to get back to his top level? Surely not, as we’ve seen him recover from mid-match injuries before, but who knows?
I want to say my utmost respect and admiration for Carlos, everything he stands for and what he has achieved so far in his career. What a terrific guy he is, and an even better competitor. Youngest ever No. 1 in the world, four Grand Slams, and I’m sure we are going to see a lot of him… Maybe not as much as I would like, but he is going to be there for sure longer than me. I just wish this match today was the final, honestly. It’s one of the most epic matches I have played on this court, on any court really. The medication started to kick in, and it helped no doubt. I had to take another dose, it sounds awful, but I had to. If I lost that second set, I don’t know if I would continue playing, but I felt better and better. I managed to play a great couple of games to end the second set. I saw that Carlos was hesitant from the back of the court, and I took my chances. I started to feel and move better. It didn’t bother me towards the end of the match [the pain], only in that second set. When the medications start to release I will see what the reality is tomorrow morning. Right now, I will try to be in the moment and enjoy this victory. Djokovic on his win and injury.
Match Stats
Novak Djokovic | Carlos Alcaraz | |
---|---|---|
Aces | 5 | 10 |
Double Faults | 3 | 5 |
1st Serve Percentage | 63% | 74% |
1st Serve Points Won | 63% (54/86) | 67% (62/92) |
2nd Serve Points Won | 58% (29/50) | 33% (11/33) |
Break Points Saved | 64% (7/11) | 54% (7/13) |
Average 1st Serve Speed | 188km/h | 190km/h |
Average 2nd Serve Speed | 155km/h | 153km/h |
1st Return Points Won | 33% (30/92) | 37% (32/86) |
2nd Return Points Won | 67% (22/33) | 42% (21/50) |
Break Points Converted | 46% (6/13) | 36% (4/11) |
Winners | 31 | 50 |
Unforced Errors | 27 | 40 |
Net Points Won | 65% (22/34) | 64% (18/28) |
Service Points Won | 61% (83/136) | 58% (73/125) |
Return Points Won | 42% (52/125) | 39% (53/136) |
Total Points Won | 52% (135/261) | 48% (126/261) |
Service Games Won | 80% (16/20) | 68% (13/19) |
Return Games Won | 32% (6/19) | 20% (4/20) |
Total Games Won | 56% (22/39) | 44% (17/39) |
Highlights
Australian Open Day 11 Quarter Final Matches

- Jannik Sinner (1) vs Alex de Minaur (8)
- Ben Shelton (21) vs Lorenzo Sonego