ST. PETERSBURG, September 25, 2016
Fifth seed Alexander Zverev upset the tournament’s number one Stan Wawrinka at the St. Petersburg Open to win his first ATP World Tour title on Sunday.
The 19-year-old German converted four of his five break point chances to seal a 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 victory in two hours and 23 minutes. Zverev had been 0-2 in past finals this season and in his career, as he lost to Florian Mayer at Halle and to Dominic Thiem at Nice.
The NextGen star became the eighth first-time winner on the ATP World Tour this season and the second NextGen titlist following Nick Kyrgios in Marseille and Atlanta.
Zverev, the 2015 ATP Star Of Tomorrow presented by Emirates, becomes the first teenage winner on the ATP World Tour since 19 year old Marin Cilic won New Haven in 2008.
“This victory is something special… I played all the finals well. I lost to Dominic Thiem on clay and I could have won against Florian Mayer on the grass… Now I’m very happy with the win, especially over such a great player like Stan,” Zverev told and added:
“In the third set I had the initiative and played slice to his left more. I tried to neutralize his massive backhand. I’m satisfied with the win.”
Wawrinka was trying to win his 12th consecutive final, dating back to his Chennai title victory against Edouard Roger-Vasselin in January 2014. The top Swiss also was attempting to win his 11th straight match, dating back to his first-round contest at the US Open.
“We showed high-quality tennis… I was struggling in the third set. I had chances but I didn’t manage to convert them. He deserved the win,” Wawrinka said.
“He is a good player right now. He scored a couple of big wins over top players. It means he is really strong.”
Inglot And Kontinen Take Doubles Title
Dominic Inglot and Henri Kontinen came back from a set down for the third time in St. Petersburg to beat Andre Begemann and Leander Paes in the doubles final 4-6, 6-3, 12-10. Inglot and Kontinen, playing together for the first time, improved to a perfect 4-0. The tandem saved a match point in the final to prevail in 79 minutes.
“We started serving very well and… I think it was very hard to break us. We have had a couple of close matches and that helped us today when we found ourselves in very close situations. That gave us some confidence,” said Inglot.
“It’s a great tournament… Obviously I’m pretty sure it’ll be in my calendar next year as well. I enjoyed playing there. The city is very beautiful,” Kontinen added.
