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Alexander Zverev was clearly inferior in the semifinals
Photo: CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON / EPA
Olympic champion Alexander Zverev clearly missed the finals at the ATP Masters in Paris.
Six days after his tournament victory in Vienna, the Hamburg-based man lost to number two seed Daniil Medvedev from Russia in the semi-finals on Saturday with 2: 6, 2: 6.
Zverev lost the fourth game in a row against the defending champion.
Zverev never found his game.
The Russian Medvedev took the tired-looking German number one from two service games in the first set.
After another break of the world number two in the second round, Zverev smashed his racket in frustration.
Medvedev subsequently chased Zverev across the court again and again - and presented the Germans, who seemed unfocused, with major problems.
With another break, Medvedev, who won the previous year's final against Zverev, made the preliminary decision.
After 1:18 hours he transformed his first match point.
In the final, Medvedev will meet world number one Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic is number one for the seventh time
Djokovic was the first player to reach the final and will end up at the top of the tennis world rankings this year as well.
The Serb prevailed in the semifinals against Hubert Hurkacz from Poland 3: 6, 6: 0 and 7: 6 (7: 5).
It is already clear that the Dominator will set another record: For the seventh time, Djokovic will finish a season as number one, so far he had been on a par with US legend Pete Sampras in this statistic.
Against Hurkacz he used his second match ball to win after an increase in performance from the second set after 2:20 hours.
aha / dpa / sid