ATP Geneva: Alexander Zverev battles past Delbonis, facing Jarry for title
World no. 5 Alexander Zverev is competing on clay for the seventh straight week, earning only five wins in the previous six and heading to Geneva with hopes of finding the form and matches. The struggling youngster is still far from his best although he has managed to secure the place in the 17th ATP final, defeating Federico Delbonis 7-5, 6-7, 6-3 in two hours and 38 minutes. Alexander won 24 points more than the Argentinian but despite that was forced to wait until the decider to make the difference, playing another marathon just a few days before the start of Roland Garros. Zverev lost serve three times from six opportunities offered to Federico, taking 45% of the return points for 14 break chances and six return games taken, enough for the place in the final.
Things looked perfect for the favorite in the opening 20 minutes, serving well and breaking a left-hander at love in game four for a 3-1. Delbonis was yet to find his shots and had to give serve away for the second time in a row after a drop shot from the German who raced into a 5-1 lead in no time at all. Out of sudden, he lost the ground on the court and started to miss one ball after another, dropping serve in games seven and nine to bring Delbonis back into contention. Federico squandered four game points at 5-6 and hit a double fault to get broken and hand the set to his rival after 55 minutes. Alexander managed to throw away the advantage in the second set as well, giving it to Delbonis in the tie break despite being two points away from the finish line at 5-5 and 6-6.
Frustrated but determined to reach the finish line first, Zverev regained composure in the decider, breaking in games three and nine to move over the top and get the opportunity to play for the first ATP title since November. A month ago, Zverev lost to Nicolas Jarry in the second round in Barcelona after wasting a match point, earning another chance on Saturday after the Chilean took down Radu Albot, 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 16 minutes for the second ATP final. Playing well on both the first and second serve, Jarry fended off four out of five break points and grabbed three breaks from seven opportunities on the return to march on in straight sets.
Radu netted a backhand to suffer a break at love in game four, creating four chances on the return in game nine while Jarry served for the set. Nicolas delivered booming serves, forehand and a volley to save them all and sealed the opener with a couple of winners for a 6-3. They traded breaks in games seven and eight (colossal forehand mistake from Jarry) in set number two before the youngster secured another one that pushed him 5-4 up, celebrating the triumph with three winners in the next game for the second clash against Alexander Zverev in the last couple of weeks.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2VPn6ua
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