Germany’s Alexander Zverev defeated Russia’s Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-3 in just 59 minutes to win the Western and Southern Open in Mason, Ohio on Sunday. Third-seeded Zverev, who is ranked 5th in the world, won his 17th career singles title, his fifth title at the ATP Masters 1000 level and his fourth title of the season.
The victory came after Zverev won the men’s singles gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. He had never won a match at a Cincinnati-area event until this year.
“My first win ever on these courts was on Wednesday, four days ago, and now I have my first title here,” Zverev said in his on-court interview. “It’s been an incredible week, lots of great matches. Going to the US Open is an incredible feeling.”
Zverev won 26 out of 28 first-served points and converted five break points in 10 occasions. They now have an 11-match winning streak just a week before the final Grand Slam of the season.
Fourth seed Rublev fought off 11 aces without committing a double fault. Rublev, who is ranked seventh in the world, is still looking to clinch his first ATP Masters 1000 title.
“I am grateful for the week I had,” Rublev said. “(Cincinnati) is a special place for me with great memories. The finals didn’t end my way, but Alexander was playing incredibly well today.”
Zverev broke Rublev’s serve in the first and third games of the match to take a 4-0 lead in the first set. Rublev continued to defend Zverev’s first set-point opportunity and go on to tie the game 40–40, but Zverev pushed on with consecutive points to end the set. He broke Rublev again to open the second set and faced some trouble the rest of the way.
Zverev said, “I didn’t have a big celebration because I know how Andrey feels too, because we’ve been best friends since the age of 11. And I know he’s going to demand his first Masters 1000 win. But it’s going to come very soon I guess.”
Zverev scored six aces and four double faults.
Zverev also won Madrid and Acapulco in the season before earning gold in Tokyo, where he defeated Novak Djokovic, who was striving for four Grand Slams and a “Golden Slam” of Olympic gold in the same year.
Winston-Salem Open
Australian Nick Kyrgios withdrew from his scheduled first round match against Great Britain’s Andy Murray on Sunday night, dashing hopes of a clash between the game’s two stars in Winston-Salem, NC.
Lucky loser Noah Rubin was selected to replace Kyrgios in the draw and battled Murray.
Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro, Italy’s Marco Cecinato and Belarus’ Egor Gerasimov won their matches in the round of 64 on Sunday.
Chinese Taipei’s Tung-Lin Wu, Australia’s Alexei Popirin, France’s Lucas Pouille and Denis Kudla fielded through round two of the qualifiers.
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