Alexander Zverev defeats Djokovic to win ATP Masters 1000 in Rome

Alexander Zverev captured his first ATP Masters 1000 title with a straight-set victory over Novak Djokovic in Rome.

One of the ATP’s best young players, Alexander Zverev, broke through Sunday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory against the world’s second-best player, Novak Djokovic. This was Zverev’s first career ATP Masters 1000 final. By comparison, Djokovic has appeared in 30 such finals. However, it will likely be the first of many for the 20-year-old.

Following the match, Zverev talked about what it was like playing against someone with an illustrious career like Djokovic, per BBC Sport:

"“If I have half the career Novak has had, I will be just fine.”"

The German is the youngest winner of a Masters event since Djokovic won the Miami Open in 2007, according to the ATP. At the beginning of the tournament, Zverev was ranked 17th in the world. After this shocking run, he will leap into the top ten. Zverev dominated Djokovic from the very beginning.

How was Alexander Zverev able to cruise to victory?

He broke the Serb in his first service game and never looked back. Zverev’s dominant serving performance made the difference. He landed almost 75 percent of his first-serve attempts and lost just six points on his serve in the first set. Furthermore, he never faced a break point in the entire match.

Additionally, Zverev did something few other players can against Djokovic: dominate the groundstroke game. He finished the match with 16 winners and just 14 unforced errors. On the other hand, Djokovic was visibly upset throughout. In the seventh game, a code violation was thrown his way for an obscenity yelled. He was broken just a couple points later.

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Alexander Zverev came into the match with fearlessness and confidence. He showed up in a big way in the biggest match of his career.

Meanwhile, Elina Svitolina defeated Simona Halep in three sets to win the women’s title.