Germany’s Alexander Zverev produced a clinical display to beat Dominic Thiem 6-4 6-4 in the Madrid Open final on Sunday.
Zverev has long been marked out as a future star of the men’s game and his victory over Thiem suggests the German can be a major threat at the French Open later this month.
Thiem had ousted Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals on Friday and he too will be among the small group capable of preventing the Spaniard from claiming an 11th Roland Garros crown.
But the Austrian was outplayed, and over-powered, by Zverev, who collects his third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title.
Zverev is now one of five active players to have won three, the others being Roger Federer, Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.
The crowd on the Manolo Santana court were treated to an impressive display of aggressive baseline hitting. Thiem’s 21 errors to Zverev’s 12 proved key.
After conceding an early break for 2-0, Thiem’s only sniff came at 5-4 when he opened up 0-30 on the Zverev serve. But his opponent did not waver, letting out a roar of relief after clinching the frame.
Another break in the first game of the second meant Thiem was again playing catch-up and Zverev could have moved 3-0 clear had Thiem not saved two more break points.
Instead, Thiem stayed in touch to make Zverev serve out. A sumptuous half-volley opened up two match points and Zverev took the first when a final Thiem forehand floated long.
