Alexander Zverev has won his third Masters 1000 Tournament with an impressive performance. In the Madrid final, he defeated Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-4.
Dominic Thiem led the duel 5-0 in a direct comparison, but declared after his semi-final victory that Zverev had improved for worlds since his last match more than a year ago and had become a superstar of the scene.
Thiem himself had gotten into the tournament better and better after starting difficulties, with the highlight victory over Rafael Nadal (”If he plays well, then it’s very difficult to stop him”), to whom he caused the first clay court defeat in almost a year. Then Thiem won against Kevin Anderson. Zverev also convinced Leonardo Mayer, John Isner and, most recently, youngster Denis Shapovalov. We have played against each other on stages like this. I’m not thinking too much about it, I’m just happy to be able to play for a Masters title again,” said the third in the world rankings with a view to the final against Kumpel Thiem, who is currently in seventh place.
Zverev won the election and had Thiem serve in front of referee Mohamed Lahyani. And the man from Hamburg got the better start, Thiem missed the forehand twice and gave up his serve by double mistake. Not a good omen given Zverev’s serve in Madrid – the 21-year-old did not even give up his serve until the final and only had one break point to fend off in his four matches.
Both players returned from far behind the baseline, so it was the serve that first put the pressure on. Zverev was the more successful, as Thiem continued to spread with his forehand too often and also put too many slice balls into the net on the backhand side on the defensive. Above all: Zverev quickly managed to get into an open punch duel even on serve to Thiem.
At 5:4 for Zverev, Thiem got his first taste of break chances at 0:30, but Zverev unpacked three first serves. He pulled the set point from a good position, but a strong first service and a slight return mistake by Thiem made set one clear. Conclusion until then: Concentrated and aggressive performance of Zverev, too many mistakes, too weak returns of Thiem.
In round two, the same game: Break for Zverev directly at the beginning – a slight service win in a row. Afterwards, Thiem prevented a second break and the preliminary decision after 15:40. Zverev was not impressed by this, again varying with net attacks against Lichtenwörther, who was acting far behind the baseline.
Zverev did not let anything burn, although Thiem did not put on and knocked again at 3:2 for Zverev after 40:0. But again Zverev was helped by a great serve to the new cue ball, which he turned. Shortly after, he made his victory perfect. 21 unforced mistakes, 15 of them with the forehand, were too many at Thiem. Zverev, on the other hand, impressed with 83 per cent of the first serves, of which he won 68 per cent.
“That was impressive, Sasha – you played a great tournament and didn’t hand in a single set. Losing a final is always hard, but I always feel comfortable here in Madrid,” Thiem said and joked: “And now it’s the winner’s turn.” He returned the praise. “It was an incredible tournament for Dominic. To defeat Rafa on sand in Spain – not many people managed that. You will win many more of these tournaments,” said Zverev. Both also praised tournament organiser Manolo Santana, who did this job for the last time in 2018 – next year Feliciano Lopez, who is still a professional, will act as tournament director.
For Alexander Zverev, the Madrid triumph is the eighth tournament victory on the ATP Tour – and after the Masters 1000cc title in Rome a year ago and in Montréal already the third on the level directly below the Grand Slams. Thiem is still waiting for a victory in the 1000s range.
Both players will continue in Rome next week. Last year Thiem reached the semi-finals (after a quarter-final victory over Nadal), Zverev won the final against Novak Djokovic.