Paris. Alexander Zverev reached the final of the Paris Masters for the second time after beating former champion Holger Rune 6-3, 7-6 (4) on Saturday.
Zverev, who was runner-up in the tournament in 2020, will face Frenchman Ugo Humbert (15), who beat 2018 champion Karen Khachanov 7-6 (6), 4-6, 3-6.
With a victory on Sunday Zverev would reach seven Masters titles and would also surpass number one in the ranking, Jannik Sinner, for most victories on the ATP Tour this year. They are tied at 65.
Despite the intense schedule — this was his 85th match of the year — Zverev decided to train afterwards. It’s a routine he started to close the gap on the four-time champion of Grand SlamCarlos Alcaraz, and Sinner, who has won two majors.
“It’s about improving some things. I feel like Jannik and Carlos are doing some things better than me at the moment,” Zverev admitted. “I feel like they are aggressive. I think tennis is going in that direction (and) I also want to improve in general for next year.”
Although Zverev will overtake Alcaraz for second place in the ATP world rankings next week, he feels he still needs more to become a Grand Slam champion.
“For me, Jannik has had the best year this season and then Carlos had the second best year. won two Grand Slams”said Zverev, runner-up at the French Open. “I will be ahead of him in the rankings (soon) but he won Wimbledon and Roland Garros. Those are two massive titles. So they are still the two best players in the world, in my opinion.”
Rune saved a match point with a brilliant crosscourt forehand, but third seed Zverev kept his cool in the next with a crisp backhand volley into the net.
Zverev was mostly in control in the fourth meeting and first on indoor hard court against Rune. The French Open runner-up improved to 3-1 overall against his rival, who won the Paris Masters in 2022 by stunning Novak Djokovic in the final.
Rune saved a break point on her first serve of the first game while battling from the back of the court.
Zverev broke him in the fourth game when Rune’s two-handed backhand went wide and he took a 4-1 lead in a dominant first set, which he ended up winning when his rival’s return went long.
The German broke 13th seed Rune to serve for the match for the first time at 5-4, but the Dane responded with an immediate break.
a long game 11 saw both players miss opportunities and went to a sixth deuce before Rune finally won it with a backhand volley into the net.
That was the end of his resistance and Zverev had no problems in his next game with his serve and in the tiebreaker.
The German is looking for his second title of the year and the 23rd of his career.
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