TURIN, Italy. – Alexander Zverev overcame late nerves to secure a 7-6(4), 4-6 6-3 victory over world number one Novak Djokovic on Saturday to set up a final showdown with Daniil Medvedev at the ATP Finals.
After splitting the first two sets, unforced errors began to creep into Djokovic’s game in the third and he sent a backhand long to hand Zverev his first service break of the match for a 3-1 lead.
Two games later, the 24-year-old German appeared to get tight, taking speed off his first serves and pushing his groundstrokes, which opened the door for the resilient Djokovic to break back.
But Zverev pounded a second serve Djokovic could not handle to grab a 5-2 lead before sealing the match with his 14th ace.
“Once Novak gets into a rhythm on the return, he’s very difficult, so I tried different things,” Zverev said.
“I would have been happy to double fault at times, but I did not want to let him get into a rhythm. I’m happy that I won, but the match could have gone either way.”
The victory prevented Djokovic from having a shot at winning a sixth title at the season-ending tournament, which would have tied him with Roger Federer’s record haul. Zverev won the title in 2018.
Earlier in the day, defending champion Medvedev stormed into the final after crushing Norway’s Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-2.
Medvedev started strongly against Ruud, breaking early to take a 2-1 lead in the first set and dictating play from the back of the court as Ruud struggled to contend with his opponent’s deep groundstrokes.
