ATP Finals: Zverev after beating Djokovic in the final

Alexander Zverev has reached the final at the ATP Finals after a gripping win against Novak Djokovic and meets defending champion Daniil Medvedev there.

Zverev prevailed on Saturday evening (November 20, 2021) in Turin with 7: 6, 4: 6, 6: 3 against world number one Djokovic.

Thanks to his best performance in this tournament in a high-class and gripping match, the 24-year-old from Hamburg repeated his coup from the summer games in Tokyo, where he also triumphed against the Serbs in the round of the top four.

Zverev before a “great final”

“It was a fantastic match. We played against each other five times this year, each time it was a great fight,” said Zverev after the win and praised Djokovic: “Nobody in the world deserves as much respect as Novak . He’s the best player in history, people sometimes forget that. ” But immediately he was looking forward to a “great finale”.

Olympic champion Zverev will meet Daniil Medvedev in the final of the $ 7.25 million ATP finals on Sunday (5 p.m.). Zverev had just lost to the US Open winner in the preliminary round in the tie-break of the third set and received his fifth loss in a row. Three years ago, the North German won the title in the final against Djokovic at the ATP Finals – back then in London.

Zverev with the best tournament performance against Djokovic

At the Turin premiere of the event, Zverev showed a remarkable performance against the Serbian Dominator in front of a good 7,000 spectators – due to the corona pandemic, capacity was limited. In the atmospherically illuminated hall, Germany’s best tennis player could once again rely on his serve, which often led to a point win even against the excellent return player Djokovic.

Zverev also did well in the longer rallies against the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon winners. Although he could not use his only two break opportunities in the following service game of the Serb. And the consequence was the tiebreak in sentence one. But Zverev earned this with a courageous game.

Zverev nervous after losing a set

Djokovic came back in the second round. Zverev gave up his serve for the first time to 4: 5. He then fought four set balls successfully, with the fifth he was powerless.

At the US Open in New York in September, Zverev had to admit defeat to the tennis record collector in five sets. This time there could be a maximum of three rounds. The 18-time tournament winner from Hamburg took off with the game win to 3-1 on serve by Djokovic and did not let the opponent come back.

Medvedev in the first semifinals without problems against Ruud

US Open winner Medvedev had previously won the first semi-final in Turin with 6: 4, 6: 2 against world number eight Casper Ruud from Norway.

The number two in the world expanded the series of successes at the ATP Finals to nine victories in a row. Last year, the 25-year-old Russian won the tournament in London without losing in the preliminary rounds.

Source: sportschau.de