HALLE, June 19, 2016
After upsetting top 10 opponents in the semi-finals, Alexander Zverev and Florian Mayer met on Sunday in the second All-German final in the 24-year history of the Gerry Weber Open. In 2011, Philipp Kohlschreiber defeated Philipp Petzschner, who retired with a lower back injury.
NextGen star Zverev couldn’t find any rhythm against Mayer’s tricky style of tennis in the pair’s first tour meeting. In an entertaining opening set, the 32-year-old from Bayreuth showed the entire repertoire of his unconvential shots to secure the frame in the eighth game.
The youngster gained his first break in the opening game of the second set but Mayer appeared unimpressed and leveled score in the sixth game. Zverev needed to save two match points in the 10th game with two big serves and broke Mayer in the following, firing up the neutral crowd and took the match the distance.
Zverev started to adapt to Mayer’s game better, but the German veteran capitalized on his break point chance in the sixth game when the teenager’s concentration lapsed badly. The world number 192, who has been ranked outside the top 200 for 16 months before coming to Halle, served the match out with his fifth championship point after one hour and 55 minutes, winning 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.
Mayer lifted his second trophy on the ATP World Tour, following his triumph in Bucharest 2011. Mayer’s ranking will improve a staggering 112 spots to world number 80, which ensures him a direct entry into the US-Open.
Florian Mayer interview:
“It was a positive week,” said Zverev, who knocked out top-seed Roger Federer in the semis. “I played really good tennis in all my matches. Against Roger obviously it was a great highlight. Unfortunately, it had to end like this. But it happens. This is tennis. You can’t change it now.
“I served worse than the days before, I hit double faults in important moments. In the third set, the way he broke me, I missed four shots. That can’t happen. I had a lot of 30-all chances which I played really bad in. He played very well. In the important moments he played very well. He deserves to win today, he was the better player. It’s as simple as that.”
