Alexander Zverev has 25 career titles in singles events on the ATP tour, but none of those have come at a grass-court tournament. For whatever reason, Zverev's huge serve and ability to move around the court well don't translate to events like Wimbledon. Maybe 2026 will be different.
The German could be pushing to win his first crown on grass at the Halle Open. He reached the quarterfinals on Friday, where he took on 24-year-old Belgian Raphael Collignon, who was ranked outside the top 50 when the tournament began, and has never won an ATP title.
Not that the latter mattered much. The Belgian was in no mood to make the match easy for Zverev. Each held throughout the first set, while the German tended to have a slightly easier time in his service game, and the eventual tie-break was a back-and-forth affair when neither player could gain much of an advantage.
Alexander Zverev just gets past Raphael Collignon in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Halle Open
After trading holds and multiple set points, Zverev finally came through to take the tie-break 12-10. At which point, he did something he rarely does. He waved his arms in the air to get the German crowd louder, and they responded correctly.
The match was a slightly odd one. Both players were performing with precision, but neither is one to show much emotion. The crowd was feeding off what the players were providing, and was interested in what was happening, but not overly enthusiastic. Surely, they wanted to German to win the Halle-based tournament, but there was an audience appreciation for what both players were doing.
The second set followed the same trend as the first, except that Zverev had slightly more stress holding his serve. He continued to do so, just as Collignon did. Just as in set one, the second set ended in a tie-break, too.
Zverev jumped out to a quick mini-break lead, however, and that was seemingly all he would need to move on to the semifinals. Raphael Collignon played extremely well and should be proud of how he played, but ultimately, the better player won the second set tie-break 7-2.
Alexander Zverev will next play Taylor Fritz in the semifinals of the Halle Open. The rivalry is shockingly one-sided in favor of the American. Fritz leads the head-to-head 9-5, but has won the last six meetings, dating back to Wimbledon 2024. The American overcame fellow countryman, Ben Shelton, 6-7(5), 7-6(8), 7-6(3) in his quarterfinal match.
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