Birthday Boy Alexander Zverev Wins His First Munich Open Title In Seven Years
NewsSunday, 20 April 2025 at 15:22
Alexander Zverev finally ended a long wait for another Munich Open title after he beat Ben Shelton in the final of this year's BMW Open.
Hosted in a city in which the popular car manufacturer BMW has its headquarters, the ATP 500 event in Munich couldn't be called differently than the BMW Open. More commonly, it's called the Munich Open, but the name of the tournament certainly didn't matter to any of the finalists on Sunday.
They both had their eyes locked on the trophy. For Shelton, it would have been his first ATP 500 career trophy on clay, while Zverev wanted to win his first title in Munich since 2018 after winning back-to-back titles in 2017 and 2018.
On top of that, the final match was played on the day of the German's 28th birthday, so he certainly wanted to give himself a nice present. Both players played well in Munich, but only one could be crowned a champion.
Zverev is a much more experienced player in general, but he is especially a much more experienced player when it comes to clay courts, despite his recent struggles. In fact, it could be said that it's his favorite surface, while his American opponent has played only a few matches on the red dirt.
Maybe that difference in the experience with the high-bouncing surface showed early in this match. Zverev, cheered on by the home crowd, broke already in the opening game of the match, and after holding his serve, he enjoyed an early 2-0 lead.
But the top seed had to stay sharp if he wanted to win the opening set. Shelton managed to get his opponent into trouble in Zverev's following service game, but despite getting to deuce, the American couldn't work his way to break points.
On top of that, Zverev then played exceptionally in the closing stages of the set. He won 12 of the last 14 points, breaking Shelton's serve once more to win the first set of the match 6-2.
Shelton couldn't find any answers when he needed them, and that hurt him also at the start of the second set. The 22-year-old gave the home crowd favorite a chance to break, and one break point was all that the German needed to start the second set with a break.
Zverev then continued serving exceptionally. He didn't face a single break point throughout the match, winning it 6-2, 6-4, to lift his first Munich Open trophy since 2018. After the match, the ATP World No. 3 player showed a lot of respect for his opponent during his speech.
"Congratulations to Ben. Incredible week. Incredible tennis. Incredible tournament. You guys have improved so much. Especially on this surface. I remember two years ago was the first time you came to Europe, you were struggling to win matches here."
"Now, you already have a clay court title. You just made the final of a 500 event. First American in a lot of years to do so. You’re playing unbelievable tennis. I think the next few weeks are gonna be great for you as well."
"Also to the people in Ben’s box, incredible support. Pops, you obviously come everywhere as well. You’ve been a player yourself. You have one of the best tennis minds I’ve ever been around. Congrats to you. You guys keep improving. You’re becoming one of the most dangerous players on every surface, and it’s great to see."
Popular News
Just In
