German fourth seed Alexander Zverev upset Roger Federer 6-3, 6-4 in the Rogers Cup final in Montreal on Sunday to join the Swiss right-hander as the most trophy-laden player on the ATP Tour this year with five titles.
The 20-year-old German, who arrived in Montreal fresh from his triumph in Washington, proved up to the task right out of the gate as he had Federer on his heels from the start on a sunny afternoon.
Zverev was poised and aggressive off the ground to create space for his power game and displayed some short-angled winners off thumping forehands and backhands to grab an early break for a 3-1 lead. He consolidated for a 4-1 cushion and ultimately closed out the opening set after a mere 30 minutes.
Photo: Jean-Yves Ahern - USA Today
Federer, who entered the match 5-0 in finals this year, started to find his groove early in the second set, but appeared out of sorts while Zverev broke in the seventh game to pull ahead 4-3 and held on for a surprise win that took 68 minutes.
The victory was the second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title of the season for Zverev, who also beat Novak Djokovic in Rome.
“This one against Roger is something so special for me because he was always a great idol growing up for me,” Zverev said during his trophy presentation. “The greatest player of all time, beating him in a final, not just any final, but in the final of a Masters 1000, is amazing.”
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Meanwhile in Toronto, Ukrainian Elina Svitolina on Sunday capped a remarkable week by beating Dane Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-0 to capture her tour-leading fifth title of the season.
Fifth-seed Svitolina, whose run to the final included wins over Venus Williams, Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza and defending champion Simona Halep, used a strong return game throughout the 77-minute match to beat sixth-seed Wozniacki.
“It was an incredible week. Played against great players, I beat them, and it’s just something really amazing and I am very, very tired,” said Svitolina, who was playing her third match in two days after rain pushed her quarter-final to Saturday.
The 22-year-old Ukrainian was so doubtful that she could even reach the final that she had a flight booked on Friday to the next tournament in Cincinnati.
With the win, Svitolina moved up one spot to a career-high world number four.
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Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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