Alexander Zverev knocks Novak Djokovic out of ATP Finals, sets up title match with Daniil Medvedev

TURIN, Italy – For the second time this year, Alexander Zverev refused Novak Djokovic chance to play to win a great title.

Following his victory over the top player in the semi-finals of the Tokyo Olympics, Zverev defeated Djokovic 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3 in the ATP Finals on Saturday.

“Every time we play against each other, it’s a very high level,” Zverev said. “This year we played against each other five times. … Every time we play for hours and it’s very physical. ”

The result means Djokovic can’t compare Roger FedererA record of six titles at the season-ending event for the top eight players. At least not this year.

Instead, Zverev will play second place Daniil Medvedev in the final on Sunday.

“He’s the greatest tennis player of all time and I think sometimes people forget that,” Zverev said of Djokovic, who shares a record 20 Grand Slam titles with Roger Federer and Roger Federer. Rafael Nadal.

Medvedev, US Open champion, beat qualifying for the first time Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-2 earlier as he looks to defend his title in the first edition of the tournament in Turin – after 12 years in London.

Medvedev has won his last five meetings with Zverev, including the one-leg tie earlier in the week that was decided in game three.

Zverev won the event in 2018.

Djokovic committed a series of basic errors that were not worth it for Zverev to win the decisive break in the middle of the third set.

Zverev then managed to keep his composure, saving a break point, before serving an ace that knocked out the T in his first game.

“I just had a really bad game in the third set – three forehands, one backhand no foul, actually from a pretty easy position,” Djokovic said.

However, the tone of the match was set in the first set, after Zverev saved a set point with a score of 4-5.

In the first set tiebreak, a challenge from Zverev forced Djokovic to hit the second serve and resulted in a double error. Then a Djokovic backhand cut the net and jumped over, giving Zverev time to run down and answer with a sharp forehand cross-court winner.

With a score of 5-4 in the tiebreak, Zverev crushed a backhand winner right on the line to end a long rally, then produced a massive serve on his first set point that made Djokovic cannot return.

In September at the US Open, Medvedev ended Djokovic’s bid to win a Grand Slam in the calendar year by beating the Serb in the final to lift his first trophy at a major.

Playing correctly from the start against Ruud, Medvedev has improved to 9-0 at the ATP Finals since losing 0-3 on his 2019 debut.

An inside-out forehand winner from Medvedev ended a 32 stroke rally that led to an early break in the opening set. Then, Medvedev started to change his game more with dribbling runs into the net and dropping shots as he again broke midway through the second half.

Ruud broke again when he interrupted a point to challenge a call, which was withheld under consideration, giving Medvedev a chance to serve for the match.

Medvedev, who did not face a break point and picked up 11 of 15 points on the net, ended it with a perfectly executed serve and volley on his first point.

Ruud, who also lost to Djokovic in consecutive sets in the opening round robin match, said that being beaten by the top two players “makes me want to take revenge and become a better player next year. ”

The doubles final will have Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury against Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut.