Madrid Open 2018: Alexander Zverev becomes the fifth active player to win three Masters titles

A dominant Alexander Zverev outplayed Dominic Thiem to win the Madrid Open for the first time in his career at the Caja Magica in Madrid, Spain on Sunday. The World No. 3 needed only 1 hour 18 minutes to seal a 6-4, 6-4 win over the seventh ranked Austrian, who had earlier snapped Rafael Nadal’s winning streak on clay.

With this win, the 21-year-old Zverev became the only active player to join the ‘Big Four’ of Nadal (31), Novak Djokovic (30), Roger Federer (27) and Andy Murray (14) to win at least three titles at the ATP Masters 1000 level. His earlier triumphs came in Rome and Montreal, both in 2017.

The German has been in scintillating form for two weeks now. Having dropped a set in his opening match at Munich, the youngster went on a tear, winning 18 sets in a row, that gave him titles in back-to-back weeks. Zverev finished with a nine-match winning streak and did not drop his serve even once at the Spanish capital.

In Sunday’s summit clash, Thiem was a pale shadow of the player, who halted Nadal in the quarter-finals just two days ago. From the outset, it was evident who was in charge of the proceedings as Thiem double faulted to lose serve in the very first game of the match.

Zverev never allowed his Austrian opponent to build a rhythm. By taking the ball early, he robbed Thiem of precious time and kept him on the backfoot. Thiem’s mounting unforced errors, especially off his usually reliable inside-out forehand, did not help his cause either.

That solitary break of serve was all Zverev needed to pocket the first set.

The second set turned out to be a mirror image of the opener. Thiem’s lack of precision continued to trouble him even in Set 2. As his forehands misfired once again, he awarded a service break to his German rival in the very first game, much like how things unfolded in the first set.

The World No. 7 looked close to dropping his serve yet again when Zverev went up 30-0 on the Thiem serve at 5-3. The 2017 French Open semi-finalist found a couple of aces just in time to get a chance to prolong the duel.

Zverev switched to serve and volley while serving for the match, which surprised Thiem. With an exquisite dropshot, he carved out two match points and bagged the win soon after as Thiem sent the ball long.