Alexander Zverev celebrated his 28th birthday in style on Sunday at the BMW Open by Bitpanda, where he soared to a record-equalling third Munich title.
The home favourite produced an assured performance to defeat second seed Ben Shelton 6-2, 6-4 and claim his 24th tour-level trophy. Zverev was imperious on serve throughout the championship match, in which he did not face a break point, according to Infosys ATP Stats.
“It’s extremely special, I always love winning tournaments in Germany,” said Zverev, who earned his first title of the season. “It’s probably the most special thing I can do. It’s definitely a great birthday present, let’s put it that way.”
“I definitely knew I had to play my best tennis today, Ben has been playing extremely well this week,” added Zverev. “The conditions suit him extremely well, it’s very hot and very fast. They suit me as well, to be fair. I enjoyed my birthday so far.”
By improving to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Shelton, Zverev secured his sixth ATP 500 title. The No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings also has the opportunity to reclaim the World No. 2 spot from Carlos Alcaraz if the Spaniard falls to Holger Rune in the Barcelona final.
With his run to a fourth ATP Tour final, Shelton is up to No. 13 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, just one shy of his career high. The 22-year-old became the first American to reach a clay final above ATP 250 level since Andre Agassi won the 2002 Masters 1000 in Rome, but was unable to contain Zverev, who was relentless throughout Sunday’s 71-minute clash.
“I feel really blessed to play in front of you all on Easter Sunday, it’s really special for me,” said Shelton during the trophy presentation. “Happy Birthday Sascha, I didn’t know that [it was your birthday]. If I did, I would have said it was a birthday gift… I was trying as hard as I could to return your serves today, but I couldn’t make it work.”
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