ATP: Alexander Zverev in Rome against Nadal to defend the title – and a premiere

A victory separates Alexander Zverev from his title defence at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome (from 4:00 pm live on SKY and in our live ticker). On the other hand, final opponent Rafael Nadal is only separated by a victory to return to first place in the world rankings.

Alexander Zverev, let me remind you once again, was asked in Munich who could be able to defeat Rafael Nadal on ashes. At a time when Nadal had just ploughed through the Masters event in Monte Carlo before dominating the Davis Cup in Valencia. As a gambler and cheerleader.

Zverev, however, named five players who would be able to beat Nadal: Juan Martin del Potro, Dominic Thiem, Marin Cilic, Novak Djokovic. And yourself. Thiem had the forecast in Madrid, but Djokovic failed in Rome on Saturday. On today’s final day at Foro Italico, it is now up to Germany’s number one to turn its own prediction into reality.

And nothing seems to be impossible for Alexander Zverev these days: the Hamburg native has won 13 matches in the last 18 days, there are quite a few professionals on the ATP tour who do not manage this balance over an entire calendar year. Zverev fought back against Cilic in the second set after trailing behind in the break and struck mercilessly in the decisive phase.

However, already at a late hour, Nadal will probably have watched this with relish on the hotel room couch.

The last meeting of the two was only a few weeks ago, Nadal left the bullring on Davis Cup Sunday in Valencia as a rarely endangered winner. Zverev, however, had not yet found his sand groove, which developed only a few days later in Monte Carlo, but above all with the sovereign title defence in Munich.

Here the duels of Alexander Zverev against Rafael Nadal

Rome’s seven-time title winner Rafael Nadal will nevertheless go into the match as the favourite. Especially since the Spaniard will arrive with an additional motivation: With an eighth triumph in Rome, Nadal would once again be number one in the ATP world rankings from Monday.

But: Zverev has consistently shown his best side in his Masters finals so far – over long stretches also in his defeat against John Isner in Miami. In any case, Germany’s number one celebrated its three successes at this level in an absolutely convincing manner.

Here are the ATP Masters 1000 finals of Alexander Zverev

Listing Rafael Nadal’s successes in this category would, however, take up considerably more space: The Spaniard holds on to 31 Masters 1000 tournament victories. And could extend his lead to Novak Djokovic (30 titles) on Sunday.