Before this week, outdoor hard courts had been the lone surface Alexander Zverev hadn't yet had success on during his career. But if his dominating week at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. is a sign, he's well on his way to mastering those conditions as well. The #NextGenATP German dropped only one set all week in the U.S. capital and finished the stretch with an exclamation point, beating South African Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday to win his first ATP World Tour 500 title. The 20-year-old Zverev has now won four titles this season – the Open Sud de France (indoor hard), the BMW Open by FWU (outdoor clay) and the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 in Rome (outdoor...
Watch highlights of Alexander Zverev beating Kevin Anderson to win the 2017 Citi Open in Washington, D.C. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com. Photo: Mike Lawrence/Citi Open
Alexander Zverev talks about winning his first ATP World Tour 500-level title on Sunday at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com.
Watch Sascha Zverev hit a backhand hot shot winner past Kevin Anderson during the Citi Open final in Washington, D.C. on Sunday. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com. Photo: Mike Lawrence / Citi Open
During the past two years, in what has quickly become the breakout stretch of his young career, Alexander Zverev has had success on every surface. He has won indoor hard-court titles – St. Petersburg Open and Open Sud de France in Montpellier – and clay-court crowns – ATP World Tour Masters 1000 in Rome and the BMW Open by FWU in Munich. He has twice reached the grass-court final at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle. But Zverev had never won a title or even reached the final of an outdoor hard-court tournament. That changed on Saturday. The 20-year-old German needed only 64 minutes to prevail past World No. 9 Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-4 in the Citi Open semi-finals in...