Alexander Zverev wins his second Masters title in Madrid!
Alexander Zverev has won the Masters tournament in Madrid for the second time since 2018. In the final he beat the Italian Matteo Berrettini 6: 7 (8), 6: 4 and 6: 3. (Here you can read the match in the live ticker.)
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: May 09, 2021, 09:27 pm
Alexander Zverev crowned his strong tournament week at the Masters in Madrid with the title - after a hard fight in a final between two opposing players.
It was clear early on what the game would look like: Berrettini, world number tenth and man with the quick wrist for the forehand shot from the hip, would play the game; Zverev, world number six and man with long legs and arms, would take advantage of the wide run-off zone of the square if the rallies were longer - and the serve would not have decided on the point early.
And it went something like that. Berrettini had to start five times in his first service game (and fend off a break ball), to 4: 3 he managed the first break, but Zverev countered immediately.
The tie-break then went almost dramatically. At first Berrettini returned strongly, played mercilessly on his own serve and quickly took a 5-0 lead. Then Zverev got into the long rallies, scoring four points in a row. At 5: 4 Berrettini kept his nerve, a service-forehand combination brought him two set balls. Zverev cleverly destroyed the first attempt, the second - when the German served - ended after a long rally with a Berrettini forehand in the net. Zverev then took the set ball via serve, Berrettini countered identically. Bitter: At 8: 8, Zverev thundered a second serve with full risk next to the line, the Italian, on the other hand, brought the first service into the field.
The numbers after sentence one made it clear who had set the tone: Berrettini was 17 winners with 21 mistakes without need, with Zverev there were only 6 wins with 14 unforced mistakes. Noticeable: Zverev was also rarely able to capitalize on the Berrettini slice and take the initiative. Actually strong: Zverev brought 81 percent of the first serves into the field, but when he had to over the second, he only got 38 percent of the points.
Zverev creates sentence compensation
Round two started Berrettini with three service games without losing points, but at 3: 3 Zverev had a break chance, which Berrettini destroyed with a strong serve and dedicated volley, he got the game with a nice overview stop. He also made bad decisions in the service game afterwards - one stop was too long and Zverev had the overview - a double mistake then brought Zverev the decisive break, at the first set ball he stopped Berrettini from the rear row of flowers brilliantly.
The numbers: Berrettini only with 6 winners with 12 mistakes without need, Zverev stood at 4 and 8.
Berrettini forehand scatters
In the decision set, Zverev had to survive a critical phase at 1: 2; He fended off a break ball brilliantly, Berrettini let the chance of a second go through the rag with a forehand error. In any case, Berrettini's forehand had lost a bit of target water, in the subsequent game he missed several times, after partly strong defensive work by the German, who got the decisive break. At 5: 3, Zverev added another break and used his second match point to win.
The success in Madrid is Zverev's fourth title in a Masters tournament, and he also won the ATP Finals in 2018.
In the course of the tournament, Zverev first defeated Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals, then Dominic Thiem in the semifinals.
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