MUNICH — Germany’s world No. 3 Alexander Zverev beat compatriot Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-3 to lift the Munich ATP Open final for a second consecutive year Sunday.
The 21-year-old from Hamburg, who is coached by his father, beat Argentina’s Guido Pella in the 2017 final.
Jaziri-Daniel final
Japan’s Taro Daniel and Tunisian Malek Jaziri will be aiming for their first ATP World Tour titles when they face off in the Istanbul Open final Sunday.
Daniel, who beat former world No. 1 Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells in March, has had a strong run in Istanbul and won a gritty semi-final against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 Saturday.
The 34-year-old Jaziri is no stranger to big upsets himself as he knocked out world number four Marin Cilic en route to the semi-finals, where he notched a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Serbian Laslo Dere.
Daniel is ranked 114th in the ATP singles rankings while Jaziri is 78th. Neither player has reached an ATP Tour final before.
“You never know what’s going to happen in tennis,” Daniel said.
“It could be a really easy match, I could lose easily, win easily; win tough, lose tough. It’s more important to think about how to recover the best I can for tomorrow.”
Jaziri claimed his first victory against a top 10 rival when he knocked out world number five Grigor Dimitrov in Dubai earlier this year.
Ostapenko, Venus out
French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko’s preparations in the run-up to the claycourt major hit the skids in the first round of the Madrid Open Saturday as she was beaten 6-3, 6-3 by unseeded Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu.
The Latvian has failed to scale the same heights she reached last year when she emerged out of nowhere to conquer Roland Garros.
But if the 20-year-old harbors any hopes of repeating that run in Paris later this month, she will have to make a vast improvement on Saturday’s error-filled performance.
Joining her at the exit was American Venus Williams, a runner-up in Madrid in 2010. She was beaten 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 by Estonian Anett Kontaveit.
World No. 4 Elina Svitolina and former world number one Karolina Pliskova, however, eased to victories.
Ukrainian Svitolina, the fourth seed, struck 28 winners and lost her serve just once as she brushed Alize Cornet aside for a 6-2, 6-2 victory.
Svitolina is aiming to win her third title of the year but the 23-year-old has never progressed past the second round in Madrid.
Sixth seed Pliskova, coming off a Stuttgart Open title win last month, extended her winning run to six matches after striking 29 winners and seven aces to sweep past Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-2.
The duo will be joined by French seventh seed Caroline Garcia and Russian Daria Kasatkina in the next stage.
American 12th-seed CoCo Vandeweghe’s defeat by unseeded Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic was the other upset of the day.
World No. 1 Simona Halep, Race to Singapore leader Caroline Wozniacki and Spaniard Garbine Muguruza will take to the courts for their first round matches Sunday. — Agencies
