'I will embarrass you': Courier busts star's secret handshake

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after trampling Tommy Paul in the nail-biting moments on Tuesday.

Paul, the Aussie battler who got seventh spot in the initial seeding, played some ripper tennis in the arvo sun but then fell apart when it counted most in the first two sets.

Zverev, the world's second-ranked player, comprehensively defeated Paul 7-0 and 7-1 in consecutive tiebreakers then went on to claim a 7-6 in the first set after Zverev won a tiebreaker to 1, 7-6 in the second set where he again won a tiebreaker to nil, 2-6, 6-1 to seal a win at Rod Laver Arena.

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"There's no blush in going down to Zverev but Tommy will look back on this match with some regret," Jim Courier said on Nine.

He didn't have a crackin' tennis game then. It's a whole lot more digestible when the other bloke steps up to the plate and steals one from you, but Tommy was very sporting with the unforced errors, mate. And the tiebreakers were just ordinary for him.

But Zverev bagged in on the opportunity.

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Zverev, 27, has won 23 ATP titles but hasn't yet held up a Grand Slam trophy.

The German powerhouse is continually improving and putting its mark on the event, and has made two significant appearances in the final in 2020 and 2024.

He'll face the winner of Tuesday arvo's big match between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.

"Gutless", Zverev joked when Courier asked about the impending clash of the titans.

No reason to stay to watch any more tennis after just watching Zverev/Paul.

Zverev wasn't looking quite as cheerful when Courier told him that Nine's cameras "have been watching you" and "I will embarrass you."

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"Fair dinkum, mate, you gotta get this, we're solidly German, this is the coolest way to be German, know what I'm sayin'?" he said.

In the middle of the rally, he requested for the chair umpire, Nacho Forcadell, to call for the replay of a point he believed he was in control off.

"G'day, this is unreal," Zverev said to Forcadell.

It's a tennis feather. There's millions of them on the Wimbledon court.

Zverev needed three match points – one during a serve by Paul, and the two others at his own serving opportunity – before clinching the win with an ace.

Paul was a semi-finalist in Melbourne in 2023 and took out his two previous wins against Zverev, however this was their first encounter at a grand slam tournament.

"To be fair, I should have been down two sets to love. He played better than me," Zverev said.

Geez, I wasn't playing top-notch tennis and I thought he was, but somehow I managed to win the first set. I thought my chances were gone after that, but I somehow managed to take out the second set and now I'm in the semi-finals.

After firing off his jokes, Zverev referred to the Djokovic-Alcaraz quarter-final as "probably the pick of the bunch at the whole tournament."

"Two of the best players who've possibly ever swung a tennis racket," Zverev said.

It's a battle between the old and the new.