Rome – Alexander Zverev won the Italian Internationals, Masters 1000 tournament which ended on the clay courts of the Foro Italico in Rome. The German tennis player beat the Chilean Nicolas Jarry, number 24 in the world ranking, in two sets with a score of 6-4, 7-5 in one hour and 43 minutes of play.
For Zverev it’s about the second triumph in Rome seven years after the 2017 exploit. Jarry, the record holder for the number of aces in the tournament before the final, knew in his first 1000 final that he had to attack to counter the German. But Zverev, champion at the Forum in 2017, closes the first set without giving up a single point with the first serve. The first partial actually continues as seen in the rest of the tournament, at least according to the Tennis Viz algorithm on data collected by Tennis Data Innovations (companies that collaborate with ATP). On a scale from 1 to 10, in fact, Zverev has maintained higher averages in terms of shot quality, in practically every district of the game: serve and return, forehand and backhand, shot with which Zverev can take a competitive advantage and force the Chilean to play faster, with greater risks and thinner safety margins.
In an only apparently illogical way, Zverev begins to open up against Jarry’s forehand: from that side he serves six times out of ten in the first set, both from the right and from the left. Ace aside, it is no coincidence that two of the first three winners in the rally resulted in backhands down the line. Zverev, untouchable on serve in the first four rounds of serve, he earned two break points in the eighth game: the Chilean did well to react, at the moment that could have decided the set and directed the match. He pulls himself together with the best he can express, the serve, but also with less obvious defensive qualities. In response, however, he fails to make an impact and Zverev closes the first set with seven winners and only one free error.
The second seems to be heading towards a similar and anticipated scenario. In fact, already in the fourth game, Zverev has two break points that Jarry erases with personality. The Chilean forces the German into one of the rare backhand errors of the match and keeps the set in balance. The German remains in control, losing very few points when he is not called upon to play defense and all of the first 31 when he fields the first, up to 6-4 4-4 15-0; then Jarry invents a counter-damped move that ignites the enthusiasm of the Chilean fans at Central. It has been played for 78 minutes. But the two consecutive double faults that send Zverev one point away from victory seem to dampen him. However, Zverev simply dribbles patiently but without sinking. The Chilean takes fate into his own hands, cancels two consecutive match points and the Chilean flags fly again in the sunny stands. Zverev also misses a third, but on the fourth he accelerates with a forehand down the line from the left and watches Jarry’s last lob go wide.
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