Alexander Zverev recovered from the loss of the first set to beat Matteo Berrettini in Sunday’s Madrid Open final.
The German’s 6-7(8) 6-4 6-3 win earned him a second Madrid title, a fourth ATP Masters 1000 crown and a 15th career title overall.
Zverev’s victory, completed in two hours and 40 minutes, was his third straight against a top-10 opponent, after he beat Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals and Dominic Thiem to reach the final.
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“At the end of the day I won a Masters. There's really very little in terms of bigger than this one right here,” Zverev said.
“I'm happy. I'm happy with this achievement. I look forward to the next few weeks. I look forward to what's ahead.”
A taut battle
Berrettini was riding an eight-match winning streak heading into the title match, after winning the ATP title in Belgrade.
And he held on in a tense opening set, remaining calm after letting slip a 5-0 lead in the tiebreak before saving a set point to eventually take it after one hour and nine minutes.
It was not the cleanest battle, with the two men combining for 78 unforced errors against just 48 winners.
Yet it was Zverev’s slight superiority on serve, as well as his ability to generate more break point chances when facing Berrettini’s delivery, that proved crucial.
Overcoming seven double faults of his own, Zverev broke serve late in the second set and survived a break point in the fifth game of the third before breaking Berrettini again in the next game.
He went on to triumph for the third time in four meetings with the Italian.
“Against Matteo was extremely difficult just getting the ball back in play, getting the ball deep enough to have the chance to win the point,” Zverev commented.
“Coming back from a set down to win the title here, I'm extremely happy with that.”
Despite the loss, Berrettini solidifies his position in the top 10 – overtaking Diego Schwartzman to become world No.9 – and joins Zverev in the top eight of the race to the ATP Finals.
“I'm really proud of myself, the work I've done just not in the last months but in my career so far,” said Berrettini, who was playing for the biggest title of his career.
“I wasn't one of the guys at (age) 18, 19 or 20 was thinking about reaching this kind of achievements and stuff. I really work hard to be here.
“Now that I'm here, I'm upset I lost. It's important for my tennis, for my level. Sascha … today was struggling against me. This is definitely a good feeling and something that I have to use to build in my future tournaments, next tournaments.
“It hurts now, but I know this loss is going to be useful.”
Seventh-ranked Zverev rises to fifth place in the race after having won a second title of 2021; he triumphed in Acapulco in March.
The 24-year-old has now won 11 of his past 14 matches and next heads to Rome, where he will face either Adrian Mannarino or Hugo Dellien following a first-round bye.