Sawt Falasteen - Zverev wary of 'smart' Paul in Australian Open quarter-final

The German booked his spot in the last eight after surviving a mid-match wobble to oust France's Ugo Humbert as he zeroes in on a maiden Grand Slam title.

The second seed was in imperious form to start and finish on John Cain Arena in Melbourne, racing past the 14th seed 6-1, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 after briefly letting his guard down.

He will meet dangerous 12th seed Paul after the American dismantled Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina for the loss of just three games.

Zverev and Paul have played twice before, but not since Indian Wells in 2022, with the American winning both times.

"I think he is somebody that is quite a smart player. I think he is somebody that can change tactics quite a lot when he plays. He can mix up his serves a lot. He can mix up his groundstrokes a lot," Zverev said of Paul.

"I think it's going to be a tough challenge.

"I know I'm playing quite well. I feel that on the court," he added. "I feel like I can do quite a lot of damage when I feel like this.

"But the opponents are the same way. They're in the quarter-final of a Grand Slam. They do feel like they deserve to be there, as well."

Zverev reached the semi-finals last year where he lost to Daniil Medvedev.

While he has made Grand Slam quarter-finals 14 times, he has never been able to go all the way after a decade of trying.

He was calm and composed against Humbert despite losing the second set

After breaking the Frenchman's opening service game he kept his foot to the floor to take the first set in just 27 minutes.

But Humbert rallied to take the next set after Zverev's serve faltered and too many unforced errors crept in.

The German refocused to reassert control, winning 100 percent of his first serve points in set three, and never surrendered.

Paul will be a harder assignment.

The opening Grand Slam of the year has been by far his most successful during his career, with a 15-5 win-loss record in his six tournaments.

His best Slam result came in Melbourne when he powered to the semi-finals in 2023 -- the first American man to do so since Andy Roddick in 2009.

He beat Davidovich Fokina along the way that year too before being ousted by Novak Djokovic.

"I'm always happy to be back in Australia and to be in the quarter-finals again. It's amazing," said Paul after a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 demolition job.

"This court is where I came through to my first quarter-final ever, and now my second one here in Australia on this court," added the 27-year-old, who dominated on serve against the Spaniard while crunching 25 winners.

S.Barghouti--SF-PST