ATP Young Guns Pouille and Zverev Capture First Ever ATP Titles

ATP Young Guns Pouille and Zverev Capture First Ever ATP Titles
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

ATP Metz

22 year old Frenchman Lucas Pouille won on home soil in Metz as he beat fellow young gun Dominic Thiem 7-6 6-2 to take his first ever ATP title. Pouille dominated proceedings as Thiem was a bit disinterested in the match at times, and the crowd was pleased with the result for the next big thing in French tennis.

Pouille boosted his ranking into the top 15 thanks to wins over his countrymen Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Julien Benneteau in three sets, and a win over David Goffin in the semis in straight sets. Thiem improved to 53-18 on the season as the top 10 Austrian scored wins over Peter Gojowczyk, Gilles Muller, and Gilles Simon before falling to Pouille.

Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos took home the doubles title over Mate Pavic and Michael Venus, it was their third of the season.

ATP St. Petersburg

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Alexander Zverev marched back from a break down against US Open champion and world #3 Stan Wawrinka to capture his first ever ATP title. The 19 year old has 38 wins on the season after beating Wawrinka 6-2 3-6 7-5. After dropping the second set and going a break down in the third he looked finished, but Wawrinka’s level dropped and the German powered through from there.

Zverev beat Karen Khachanov, Daniil Medvedev, Mikhail Youzhny, and Tomas Berdych without dropping a set this week. He had two top 10 wins, and was a deserving champion. Youzhny had ousted Milos Raonic in the previous round and was the home favorite. Wawrinka beat Lukas Rosol, Viktor Troicki, and Roberto Bautista Agut without dropping a set. He now has 42 wins on the year.