Pablo Cuevas, who at the age of 31 and enjoying his best tennis, defeated Alexander Zverev 3-6 6-0 6-4 in an exciting match in the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open on Friday.

Cuevas is a natural clay court player. All six of his ATP titles have been on the surface. His most recent title was at Rio de Janeiro earlier in the season. It is easy to forget that Cuevas was the world no. 19 in August 2016 and is currently No. 27.

The match started too good to be true for Zverev. He broke early in the first set to go up 3-1 and held his serve throughout the set. It appeared that the match would be an easy win for the German.

But Cuevas quickly developed his game in the second set, making the first set look like it had been a warm-up. Serving at 0-1 (40-30), Zverev was on the receiving end of what could be the passing shot of the year. As Cuevas rushed the net to retrieve a drop shot, Zverev lifted a lob that forced Cuevas to run back while Zverev waited at the net. Cuevas made a no-look, cross court, wrist-stroke from behind the baseline that passed Zverev who could only watch.

Then, Cuevas managed to break the Zverev serve as momentum shifted. The German’s ground strokes and even his big serve were ineffective against the Uruguayan. Cuevas won the second set 6-0.

In the final and decisive set, both players were at their highest level and focused on not making mistakes. There were no break points until Zverev served to equalize the set at 5 games apiece. That is when the experience of Cuevas, who is 11-years older than Zverev, paid off. He pressured the German who failed to win another point. He lost his serve at love as Cuevas celebrated.

It is the first time the Uruguayan has advanced to the semifinals of a Masters 1000 tournament. He will face Dominic Thiem, who defeated Borna Coric in straight sets. It will be another generational fight for the veteran Cuevas against the 23-year old. But there is a local saying that goes, “The devil knows more by old than by devil.” We will see if that applies on Saturday.

Photos courtesy of Pedro Ros Sogorb