Zverev praises the Roman tifosi: "I feel like an Italian".

Alexander Zverev was badly beaten, but he held his ground on Friday.

Hitherto dominant, he gave himself a scare in the semi-finals. Faced with Alejandro Tabilo, who is living a daydream and has beaten the likes of Djokovic and Khachanov, the German was dominated for a long time. Swept aside in the first act, he finally managed to hold his nerve to win the second set in a tie-break, before going on to win (1-6, 7-6, 6-2).

Having qualified for the final, Zverev paid tribute to the Italian public. Indeed, Zverev explained that Italy is one of the countries where he enjoys playing the most (having already won in Rome in 2017): "It's funny, Italy is one of the three countries where I have the most support. I feel like an Italian when I play here. I get so much love, so much energy from the public, all the time.

Even today (against Tabilo in the semi-final). Normally, the public always wants the Outsider to do well. Here, I really felt they were behind me. That helps. I really appreciate it. The Italians are a 'crazy' crowd, and I like that. I like the energy. I like it when they're loud.

And when they're for you, it's even better. I won't be replacing Jannik (Sinner, world No. 2 and standard-bearer for Italian tennis), but maybe for this week, if they can see it that way, I'm happy."

Looking back on the match, the world No. 5 admits he went through all kinds of emotions: "I didn't play well in the first set, but it was because of him that I didn't play well. He started well, hitting very hard, with lots of drop shots. He played extremely aggressively. He didn't let me play. To my credit, I hung in there.

Things changed in the tie-break, and then the dynamic reversed. [...] It's not easy to play aggressively against an opponent who tries to play every shot to the hilt. In the first set, I barely touched the ball. To play aggressively, you need rhythm. I didn't have that today.

At the end of the day, it's also about finding solutions. I found one, especially in the tie-break of the second set, and I was more comfortable with my shots at the end."