Zverev beats Berrettini to win his second Madrid Open title

Alexander Zverev continued his spectacular kind going into the French Open by profitable his second Madrid Open title on Sunday.
After beating top-seeded Rafael Nadal within the quarterfinals and fourth-ranked Dominic Thiem within the semifinals, Zverev rallied to defeat Matteo Berrettini 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-3 for his second title this season. The sixth-ranked German additionally received the Mexican Open in Acapulco in March.
Zverev received his first Madrid title in 2018 in a remaining towards Thiem. The win on Sunday gave him his fourth Masters 1000 title, and first in three years. Zverev will likely be attempting to enhance from his fourth-round exit final yr on the French Open.
“To do well at the French Open, you need to be playing well during the clay court season,” the 24-year-old Zverev stated. “That is in a way important for me, as well. At the end of the day I won a Masters. There’s really very little in terms of bigger than this one right here. I’m happy with this achievement. Obviously, yeah, I look forward to the next few weeks. I look forward to what’s ahead.”
The Tenth-ranked Berrettini received the title in Belgrade final week. The Italian has been regularly returning to kind after battling an stomach harm that stored him from enjoying his quarterfinal match towards Stefanos Tsitsipas on the Australian Open. The harm stored Berrettini out till Monte Carlo, the place he misplaced his opening match.
“This was my first (Masters 1000) final. Hopefully it’s not going to be my last,” Berrettini stated. “But like I said before, I’m really happy on my level. Today unfortunately I think I didn’t play my best tennis.”
After exchanging a break every within the first set, Berrettini opened the tiebreaker with a 5-0 lead however allowed Zverev to come back again. The Italian closed it out on his fourth set level after Zverev additionally squandered a set level within the back-and-forth tiebreaker. It was the primary set dropped by Zverev this week.
Zverev, who completed with seven double-faults, evened the match after breaking Berrettini at 4-4 and serving out to clinch the second set on the Magic Box middle court docket, which had its roof closed due to rain in Madrid.
Berrettini, who ended with 50 unforced errors, squandered a break level early within the third set, and Zverev broke him within the following recreation to take the lead. He earned one other break on the finish, changing on his second match level to clinch the victory.
In the boys’s doubles remaining, Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina defeated Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic of Croatia 1-6, 6-3, 10-8.
The Madrid Open was one of many first sporting occasions in Spain that allowed the presence of a restricted variety of followers. The event was amongst these canceled final yr due to the coronavirus pandemic. Local well being staff have been honored by event organizers earlier than the ultimate on Sunday.
In the ladies’s version, Aryna Sabalenka beat top-ranked Ash Barty 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 in Saturday’s remaining.