WASHINGTON, August 7, 2017
Fifth seed Alexander Zverev clinched his first ATP World Tour 500-level title, winning Sunday’s Citi Open final over Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-4.
The 20-year-old German sent down six aces and won 88 per cent of his first service points. Zverev didn’t lose his serve and capitalized on two of his own break point opportunities to prevail after one hour and nine minutes.
Zverev now has four ATP World Tour titles this season, matching Rafael Nadal and trailing only Roger Federer. The German has jumped to fourth place in the Emirates ATP Race To London and will further pad his lead in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan. The title in Washington is also his first with new coach Juan Carlos Ferrero by his side.
First @CitiOpen title.
First outdoor hard-court title.
Fifth @ATPWorldTour title.
Alex Zverev is champion in Washington!#CO17 pic.twitter.com/pksMt6sfZb
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) 6. August 2017
“I think I improved a lot in the last few months and in this off-season so I can be able to win these kinds of tournaments… I showed in Rome and I’m showing it here again. I just hope I can continue playing well like this or even make it better in the summer. We’ll see what the next few big tournaments hold for me,” told Zverev, who is the youngest man to win four titles or more in a season since Juan Martin Del Potro in 2008.
“I obviously want to improve as fast and as much as I can until I’m at the top of the game. That’s what I’m trying to do. But it’s not in my hands.”
Anderson was competing in his first final since Winston-Salem in 2015. The South African was looking for his first ATP World Tour 500-level title. He falls to 3-9 in title matches.
“It didn’t feel like he gave me a whole lot. I thought he served very well. Outside of the two games I got broken, I was pretty happy with the way I played. But with him playing like that I couldn’t afford to give up those two serve games,” Anderson said.
Top seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers beat second seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo 7-6, 6-4 for their second title of the year after winning the Australian Open. The final lasted one hour and 33 minutes.
“Every tournament we play, we feel more comfortable playing with each other. We’re one of the contenders in every tournament. There are a lot of good teams out there. We just have to play well in the key moments,” Kontinen said.
“We actually only decided to play here on the Wednesday before the tournament, so thanks to Henri for suggesting it. It’s always great to play in front of such a nice crowd,” Peers added.
