Zverev wins Tsitsipas epic to book place in Cincy final

Third seed Alexander Zverev fought back from a double break down in the final set to progress to the Western and Southern Open final with a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(4) win over second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The epic match lasted two hours and 41 minutes, with Zverev responding strongly after appearing unwell to book his spot in the final against Rublev.

Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Zverev had trailed 4-1 in the third set against Tsitsipas, but fought back with two breaks before winning in a tie-break.

“After I did the first break back I thought, ‘OK, I have the chances’,” Zverev said during his on-court interview. “I felt like he was not serving bombs. I felt like I was always in the rallies but I was losing the rallies because I was a bit low energy, so I started being a bit more aggressive, a bit of the Novak mentality that I had against him at the Olympics as well.”

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Tsitsipas acknowledged that he had missed a huge opportunity, describing it as a “not very ideal way to end it after fighting back and having all the chances in the world,” during his post-match press conference, adding: “Only I can take it as a learning experience.”

Zverev has a 4-0 record against final opponent Rublev but he was wary of his opponent.

“Favourite or not, I think if you’re in the final, there’s no easy opponent,” he said. “Today he played incredible beating Medvedev.”