You have to go back to 2016 and a defeat at the Halle tournament to see Alexander Zverev in the final of a lawn tournament. At the time, the German bowed to his compatriot Florian Mayer in three sets. A finalist also in 2017 (defeat against Federer), Zverev has still not won a title on this surface. The world number three could end this statistic this Sunday if he won against Taylor Fritz (7th) in the final.

Zverev dominates Shelton

“I like to play on this surface. It will be a big fight against Taylor (Fritz) tomorrow (Sunday), “said Zverev after his victory against Ben Shelton in the semi-finals. The German lawn suffered during the opposition between the two men. 15 Aces for Zverev, 21 for the American who will integrate the top 10 next week for the first time in his career. After a hooked set, Zverev thought he was easily concluding in the tie-break by leading 6-3. Shelton came back in turn to set a set.

Finally, it was the German on his fifth attempt who managed to pocket the first round after 1h05 of play (7-6 (8)). The second set is a compliant copy of the first. Zverev is the only one to obtain break balls (0 conceded and 6 obtained), but Shelton resists and saves two match balls (5-4). Insufficient to hope. Again engaged in a tie-break, Zverev wins without shaking seven points on one. He will try to win his 25th career title this Sunday.