German Alexander Zverev won his second Masters title after beating Russian Daniil Medvedev in straight sets (6-4, 6-4) in the final. The German player, Olympic champion last summer, becomes the first to be crowned in Turin where the masters tournament has been relocated since this season. At the start of the afternoon, the French pair Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut also won the final to claim their second title as a duo.
Zverev has won the most matches in 2021
Alexander Zverev’s victory concludes a particularly prolific season for the 24-year-old German, who has won six titles this year. With 59 victories to his credit, he is the player who has won the most matches in 2021. His record now has 19 titles in total. He only needs a first Grand Slam title to establish his position as a possible successor to the Big 3 (Novak Djokovic-Rafael Nadal-Roger Federer) who have dominated world tennis for the past ten years.
“It’s really special for me, I’m really delighted and very happy. There’s no better way to end the season. I can’t wait to start the next one,” Zverev said on the court shortly after his triumph. . In the semi-finals, Zverev had beaten world number 1 Novak Djokovic, in search of a sixth Masters title which would have allowed him to equal the record of Roger Federer, who had already deprived the Serb of his first Olympic title this summer.
And when Zverev beats Djokovic, it gives him wings. Sunday, it is therefore the world number 2, recently titled at the Masters 1000 in Paris after winning his first Grand Slam this fall at the US Open, who suffered his law. It is the first time since 1990 and André Agassi that a winner of the Masters manages to beat the two world leaders to win.
Service, a key element of the game
Impeccable in service (8 aces including one on the match point, 83% of points won behind his first serve), Zverev, who had already won at the Masters in London in 2018, made the break very quickly in both sets (3rd game in the first and entry into the second) to dominate a Medvedev a bit down on the first ball (58% of first serves). The German didn’t have to save a single break point in the whole game.
“Serving was definitely key today. And on that, he was really better than me,” admitted Medvedev, underlining the importance of this weapon on the particularly fast surface of Turin. “I really missed something today. I could have served better, for sure, afterwards I was maybe a bit tired, maybe mentally I wasn’t quite up to it. 100% is hard to say.
Five-game losing streak ends for Zverev against Medvedev
The Russian had however beaten Zverev in their last five confrontations, with in particular an expeditious victory in the semi-finals in Paris at the beginning of the month (6-2, 6-2) and a success again this week in the group stage of this Masters after a 2h35 fight (6-3, 6-7, 7-6). “You beat me five times in a row, so thank you for letting me win this time,” joked Zverev just after receiving his trophy, paying tribute to his opponent of the day. “You are the leader of our generation,” he said.
But Sunday, in this final which brought together for the first time since 2005 two players aged 25 or less, there was however no photo between two of the strong men of this season. The German only needed 1h15 to overcome the Russian and take his revenge. The two men are now tied in their confrontations (6 wins each).
Mahut and Herbert crowned for the 2nd time at the Doubles Masters
Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert won the doubles Masters for the second time on Sunday by beating the American-British duo Rajeev Ram/Joe Salisbury, winners of the last US Open, with authority in the final, 6-4, 7-6 ( 7-0). The French, holders of five Grand Slam titles including the last Roland-Garros, had already won the Masters in doubles in 2019 in London. They were playing their third final in four years in this competition which brings together the eight best pairs in the world of the season.