US Open champ Stan beaten by ‘future of tennis’ Zverev

St. Petersburg, September 26

US Open champion Stan Wawrinka came up short against rising German star Alexander Zverev in the St Petersburg Open final on Sunday, the teenager claiming his debut ATP title 6-2 3-6 7-5.

Zverev, the 19-year-old Monte Carlo resident, came into the final full of confidence and broke the Swiss top seed's serve twice for a one-set lead in 39 minutes.

In the second set, world No. 3 Wawrinka, who has won 11 of his previous ATP finals, also broke twice to level at one-set all after one hour 22 minutes on court.

Wawrinka, 31, broke early in the deciding set but the 27-ranked Zverev broke back twice to close out his win in two hours 23 minutes.

"I'm full of emotions! I just couldn't have chosen a better place to win my maiden title," said Zverev, who has Russian origins.

"It was really hard when I was trailing 3-0 in the deciding set but I forced myself to keep on fighting. And now I'm really happy with my win."

Wawrinka congratulated Zverev, calling him the future of tennis.

"You're the future of the tennis but you're already at the top," the Swiss said.

"Today you've played a great match and won deservedly. My congratulations for what you're doing so far." — AFP

Kvitova safely through

Wuhan (China): Double Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova beat Latvian Jelena Ostapenko as the WTA Wuhan Open was hit by a wave of retirements on Monday. The Czech served six aces — mirrored by her teenage opponent’s six double faults — to sweep to a 6-3 6-1 victory. Fourth-seeded Romanian Simona Halep entered the third round after compatriot Irina Begu retired while trailing 6-3 2-0.  The tally of retirements has climbed to six on just the second day of the hard court event. — AFP