(August 22, 2021)
(August 22, 2021) World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty and No. 5 Alexander Zverev captured the singles titles at the Western & Southern Open on Sunday in Cincinnati.
Barty, from Australia, defeated Swiss 24-year old Jil Teichmann, 6-3, 6-1, in 1 hour, 13 minutes. This was her 13th career title and fifth this year.
| “It’s been an awesome week,Barty said to media. “I felt like with each match we’re getting progressively better and better in most parts of my game. “Today against Jil I feel like I was able to really trust myself and play with confidence, get after the ball, be aggressive and get a bit of a run on, which was going to be important in a big final. “I think we’re just excited that we’ve got matches under our belt in tough conditions here in Cincy, and that’s put us in really good stead going into (US Open) New York.” |
It was a career week for 76th-ranked Teichmann — who defeated two Top Tenn players on the way to the finals, including Naomi Osaka.
| “I’m very happy with my week,” said Teichmann. “Obviously today I wanted to win, but Ash was just too good. “I felt like I was there the first set. Just got this little break, and first set was gone. But it was some good points from her part. “Then second set, she stepped up her level. Yeah, just got to say she was too good.” |
Her ranking will to rise to a career-high No. 45.
Alexander Zverev dismissed seventh-ranked Russian Andrey Rublev, 6-2, 6-3, in 59 minutes. It was the shortest Cincinnati final since 1980 when Stefan Edberg won the titles in 50 minutes. The 24-year-old German won his fifth ATP Masters 1000 title, the first German to win Cincinnati since Boris Becker in 1985.
“I felt well from the beginning,’ noted the winner. “Broke him the first game, and I think then the match went my way, I have to say, quite a lot and quite fast.
“Obviously very happy with that, because Andrey, once he gets the rhythm, once he gets going in a match, he’s a very dangerous player and can beat anybody. He showed that yesterday. Obviously very happy with how things went.”
Next stop for the Olympic gold medalist is the US Open where he was a finalist last year.
“The US Open is a week that everybody is looking forward to,” he said. “I think Novak (Djokovic) will be back. He’s obviously going to be the favorite, as well. But I think other guys are going to be in great shape.
“I’m looking forward to the week. Let’s see how it goes. But there is still one week to go. I still have a lot of work ahead of me. I have to find my rhythm in New York, as well, and, yeah, I’m looking forward to the US Open.”
