What a difference an Olympic gold medal makes. On six previous visits to Cincinnati, Alexander Zverev had failed to win a single main draw match. Then again, he had never before arrived in Ohio as the reigning Olympic champion, with all the confidence that status confers. With a 6-2, 6-3 victory over his close friend Andrey Rublev, Zverev claimed his first Cincinnati Masters title – and fifth in all at this level – and extended his unbeaten run to 11 consecutive matches. A finalist at last year’s US Open, where he lost out to Dominic Thiem in a fifth-set tiebreak, the German is playing with the conviction of a man who has every prospect of going one step further this time around.
It has taken a while for Zverev to live up to his billing as the natural challenger to the big three. Expectation reached fever pitch three years ago, when he beat Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic on consecutive days to win the ATP World Tour finals, but only now is he truly coming of age as a champion. His epic semi-final victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas, in which he overcame sickness and a spirited fightback from his opponent to retrieve a 4-1 deficit in the deciding set, spoke of a player with growing reserves of durability and self-assurance. His victory over Rublev simply spoke of a man at the top of his game, although it should be noted that Rublev was a shadow of the player who beat Daniil Medvedev in such dramatic fashion in the semi-finals.
“It’s incredible,” reflected Zverev. “The first win I ever had on these courts was on Wednesday, four days ago, and now I have my first title here. It has been an incredible week with a lot of great matches. It is an incredible feeling going into the US Open now.”
In another sign of his emergence as a player of genuine stature, Zverev eschewed wild celebrations at the moment of victory out of respect for Rublev, whom he has known since they were in the juniors together. “I did not do a big celebration because I know how Andrey feels,” said Zverev. “We have been best friends since we were 11 years old, and I know he is seeking his first Masters 1000 win, but it is going to come very soon I think.”
Rublev found himself in familiar territory, up against an opponent who had won each of their four previous contests without dropping a set. The Russian had demonstrated his ability to reverse such a trend in his semi-final victory over top seed Medvedev, who had held an identical record against him, but Zverev was in no mood to entertain a repeat. The German quickly found his rhythm from the baseline, winning a lengthy exchange to break in the opening game. He consolidated the advantage with a love hold, and a second break soon followed, Rublev struggling to match the consistency and penetration of Zverev’s groundstrokes. By the time Zverev wrapped up the opener, he had conceded just three points on serve, and made only two unforced errors.
Rublev left the court at the end of the set, but if the Russian hoped to regroup following his flat start, he was to be disappointed. Zverev immediately picked up from where he had left off, returning with authority and repeatedly outlasting Rublev from the back as he claimed another early break. There was to be no way back. There was a wobble from Zverev when he was broken for the only time in the match as he served for the title at 5-2, but the German struck back immediately, breaking again to complete the win in just 58 minutes. As Rublev ruefully observed, “Alexander was playing unbelievably today”.
Follow Love Game Tennis on Twitter to keep up with all the latest news, views and discussion