Washington: Germany’s Alexander Zverev beat Australian teenager Alex de Minaur 6-2, 6-4 to retain his Citi Open tennis tournament title here Sunday.
Zverev’s serve played a big role in the victory, his third of the year, as the World No.3 won all but two of his first serve points in the final, which lasted 74 minutes.
“Happy with how I played today (Sunday) and happy how the whole tournament went from start to finish, from the first match to the last point I felt in control,” Zverev said after the match. “Every single match I thought I played well and was consistent.”
The German, now with nine career victories, became the tournament’s first repeat champion since Argentine Juan Martin del Potro in 2008-09.
With the 21-year-old going up against fellow youngester Minaur, 19, Zverev told the crowd: “This final could be the final of the next 15 years, so I hope you guys all enjoyed it.”
Obviously struggling from fatigue, the Australian dropped the opening four games of the first set but fought back in second.
De Minaur drew the crowd’s applause when he hit a winner to hold for 3-4, after saving three breakpoints to avoid a double-break deficit.
De Minaur saved two match points on his own serve at 3-5 but Zverev clinched the victory when de Minaur hit a backhand into the net in the next game.
In the women’s, final Svetlana Kuznetsova fended off four match points en route to a 4-6, 7-6(9-7), 6-2 win over Czech Donna Vekic.
It took a remarkable comeback by the 2014 champion to win an 11th consecutive match in the US capital and secure her 18th career title. Incidentally it was the first title for Kuznetsove since 2016 when she won the Kremlin Cup.
“There’s something going on in Washington,” Kuznetsova said. “I’ve been here two times and I’ve never lost.”
She looked set to miss out on adding another Washington crown to her resume when she miscued a backhand into the net to give Vekic a third match point at 5-6 in the second set. At 6-7 she saved another match point with a stunning forehand and then forced Vekic to make two errors to win the set and restore parity in the match.
Kuznetsova then swept to a 5-0 lead in the deciding set with her eighth ace of the match, and she claimed victory when Vekic hit a forehand wide.
