We hoped it would be a great match. Well, it wasn’t. A great Alexander Zverev handily disposed of a subpar Roger Federer in the final of this record-breaking edition of the Rogers Cup: 216,097 spectators attended the event during the 10 days of competition (although technically the first Friday only features the official draw and training sessions), improving the attendance record for a 1-week event that had been established here in 2013.
At the start of the match, it is Zverev who tries to take control of the operations, swinging freely on both sides and putting Federer under pressure. The German kid is impressive on serve: 82% of points on first serve and an impressive average second serve speed of over 180 km/h. The baseline rallies are dominated by Zverev, who hits harder and misses less often, but is not totally tuned into Federer’s serve, possibly because he seems to have decided to go aggressive with every return.
After saving a break point on his first game of serve of the match with a bit of luck (Zverev’s backhand missed the court by a few inches), Federer gets broken two games later when his serves come back right between his feet allowing Sascha to take control of the rallies and pushing his opponent around the court. It’s not Federer’s day to play long points from the baseline, as his shots are not as incisive as usual and his slice backhands let him down more often than not. Zverev holds quite comfortably to take home the first set in 29 minutes, just before taking an unusual bathroom break that leaves Federer alone on court to concoct a new plan to deal with a complicated situation.
The second set starts with Roger much more committed to a serve-and-volley strategy which yields mixed results, as his serve does not seem unpredictable enough to short-circuit Zverev’s returns. Nonetheless, his attempts to soften the ball and slide to the net following long cross court attacks yields him three break point on the third game, all masterfully saved by three first serves. It’s just an isolated episode, because while Federer manages to survive by the skin of his teeth a game later by serving off two break points, he does not seem to have the confidence he needs in his shot to turn the match into a cat-and-mouse affair mixing up net approaches and baseline rallies. Even his serve doesn’t look big enough on the day to keep him afloat.
The deciding break arrives on the famously critical seventh game, when three unforced errors from the baseline seal Federer’s fate, who seems somewhat hurt in the second set, with his first serve speed rarely surpassing 190 km/h.
It’s the first time since 2007 that a non-fab4 wins 2 Masters 1000 tournaments (that time it was Nalbandian).
