Alexander Zverev waved goodbye to a fan who was ejected from the Canadian Open during the world No. 3’s quarter-final win over Alexei Popyrin. The German star was on the verge of victory, serving while in the lead at 5-3 in the third set, but surprisingly double-faulted as a result of a disturbance in the stands.

Zverev moaned to the umpire between serves. He threw the ball up but did not finish his serving action and as the ball fell to the floor, Zverev launched more complaints about someone in the stand. He hit his first serve into the net and, after more delays, hit the net cord at a crucial stage in the match.

The favourite had lost the opening set against a tricky Popyrin already and when nearing the finish line, was pained to have his concentration broken.

Moments after sealing his 6-7(8) 6-4 6-3 victory, having battled against his Aussie opponent and a heckler in the audience, Zverev turned towards the disruptive person and put his hand up to wave goodbye as they were being booted out.

Having set up a semi-final against Karen Khachanov, Zverev reflected on the double-fault incident and hitting the net cord: “I had to tell myself, even though I lost the first set, I thought we were both playing actually quite well.

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“I did one or two mistakes in the end, and I was very unlucky with the net cord on set point. But all in all, I thought it was a high level, and if I continue playing that way, I’m going to get my chances — and that’s what I did.”

In ending Popyrin’s title defence, Zverev became the second active men’s player to reach 75 tour-level semi-finals, behind only Novak Djokovic.

He was visibly frustrated on the court at losing a first-set tiebreak, but rallied to take 3-0 commanding leads in the two sets that followed, before recovering from a blip in the final set caused by the heckler.

And heading into the US Open, which gets underway later this month, Zverev is confident that he is playing at a level that can propel him to a better finish than a first-round exit at Wimbledon.

“I had to find a return position in the beginning because he’s a very big server, and when he gets into a rhythm, it’s very difficult against him,” added Zverev. “I did that in the second and third set. Honestly, I can’t complain about much. I played one loose game on my serve in the second set, but apart from that, it was pretty good.”