MADRID: Germany’s Alexander Zverev won the battle of the young guns against Denis Shapovalov on Saturday to set up a Madrid Open final against Austria’s Dominic Thiem. The 21-year-old third seed was clinical as he trounced erratic Canadian Shapovalov, two years his junior, 6-4 6-1 in less than an hour on centre court. Earlier in the day, Thiem backed up his shock defeat of defending champion Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals to beat South Africa’s Kevin Anderson 6-4 6-2 and reach the final for the second year in succession.
Zverev and Shapovalov did not take to court until around 10 pm local time after Petra Zvitova’s marathon final victory over Kiki Bertens in the women’s singles.
Initially it appeared the eagerly-anticipated clash between two dynamic shotmakers, who are expected to be battling for grand slams in the near future, would live up to the pre-match billing.
The opening eight games went with serve with Shapovalov producing some trademark backhands winners from his single-hander, including one audacious topspin lob.
Zverev already has two Masters 1000 titles to his name, and his greater experience told in the ninth game.
Shapovalov framed a forehand at 30-30 to offer the first break point of the match and Zverev pounced with a crunching backhand return his opponent fended into the net.
The second set proved a no-contest as Zverev took complete control against a dispirited looking opponent.
COMMANDING DISPLAY
Thiem claimed a first win against Anderson at the seventh attempt with a commanding display. None of the their previous meetings had been on Thiem’s favoured clay and the surface proved decisive as he managed to dictate against Anderson who was appearing in his first semifinal of a Masters 1000 event. — Reuters
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