St Petersburg (Russia): US Open champion Stan Wawrinka came up short against rising German star Alexander Zverev in the Saint Petersburg Open final here Sunday evening, the teenager claiming his debut ATP title 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 with a stunning victory against the Swiss.
Zverev, the 19-year-old Monte Carlo resident, came into the final full of confidence and broke the Swiss top seed’s serve twice for a one-set lead in 39 minutes. It was an amazing start as the German repeatedly troubled Wawrinka with a double-flanked attack that had Wawrinka desperately retrieving.
In the second set, World No.3 Wawrinka, who has won 11 of his previous ATP finals, also broke twice to level at one-set all after one hour 22 minutes on court. But he was also broken once during the set.
Wawrinka, 31, broke early in the deciding set but the 27-ranked Zverev broke back twice to close out his win in two hours 23 minutes. The turning point of the match came when Zverev hit two brilliant return of serves for easy put aways in the 11th game of the decider. Zverev then closed out the set and the match without much of a problem.
“I’m full of emotions! I just couldn’t have chosen a better place to win my maiden title,” said Zverev, who has Russian origins, at the hard court of Sibur Arena. “It was really hard when I was trailing 0-3 in the deciding set but I forced myself to keep on fighting. And now I’m really happy with my win. I knew I had nothing to lose and so I went for my shots.”
Wawrinka congratulated Zverev calling him the ‘future of tennis’. “You’re the future of the tennis but you’re already at the top,” the Swiss said. “Today (Sunday) you’ve played a great match and won deservedly. My congratulations for what you’re doing so far.”
Kvitova off to flying start
Former champion Petra Kvitova started strong at the Wuhan Open, taking barely an hour to sweep past Latvian rising tennis star Jelena Ostapenko here Monday.
Despite what has been a difficult year overall for Kvitova, there have been some encouraging signs of late, and she continued this upward curve with a dominant 6-3, 6-1 win over Ostapenko.
“I think the first time I lost to her (Ostapenko) in Doha, where I wasn’t playing well. I didn’t feel as well mentally. My tennis wasn’t really in the peak, which always kind of interrupted my confidence,” said the Czech, who also won the tournament’s inaugural in 2014.
After eventually subduing her teenage foe in an up-and-down opening set, Kvitova turned on the style, rattling off four straight games as she hurtled towards the finish line. The Czech will next face either Elina Svitolina or Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Three players retired half way through their matches, perhaps due to the sweltering weather. But Kvitova did not see it as a problem on court. “It doesn’t matter, I think. In the car to site, my fitness coach told me it should be like 34 degrees and like 90 per cent of humid as well. I’m like, Okay, that’s good to know,” said Kvitova.
“I was a bit worried, but nothing really happened on the court. I was feeling okay. I mean, I was just sweating a lot. But I didn’t feel like very hot or something. I had ice on the court and it was pretty okay,” she added.
Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova walked away, as did Latvian Anastasija Sevastova. Britain’s Heather Watson gave up during her match against American Madison Brengle.
Title for Pouille
Meanwhile at Metz, Frenchman Lucas Pouille claimed his first ATP title by beating Austrian top seed Dominic Thiem 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 in the Moselle Open tennis tournament final, Sunday.
World No. 18 Pouille, seeded third, overcame a 0-4 deficit in the opening set’s tie-break to down Thiem, who made too many unforced errors. Pouille, who has been enjoying a fine end of season after reaching the quarterfinals at this month’s US Open, rode his momentum by breaking in the first game of the second set. He broke again in the seventh game to lead 5-2 before wrapping it up with his 10th ace.
Sania maintains No. 1 position
Sania Mirza maintained her numero uno position in the latest WTA women’s doubles ranking declared Monday following her recent victory in the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, partnering Barbora Strycova of Czech Republic. Sania (9,730) continued to be World No.1 in doubles, but was only five points ahead of her estranged partner Martina Hingis (9,725). Among Indian men, Sakth Myneni is the highest ranked singles player at 138th. In the men’s doubles chart, Rohan Bopanna remained static at 18th, while veteran Leander Paes has moved up four places to 60th.
Agencies
