Tennis roundup: Iga Swiatek wins home title in Warsaw; Alexander Zverev ends trophy drought

Warsaw: Iga Swiatek cruised to the title in her home tournament, the Warsaw Open with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over exhausted Laura Siegemund on Sunday.

The world No. 1 completed two busy days by sweeping aside her German opponent in 68 minutes for a second victory of the day.

“I wanted to put it all in and go for it. I’m pretty happy that I did,” Swiatek said in her winner’s speech.

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The rain delays in the tournament meant Swiatek started Friday by playing her quarter-final and ended it by starting her semi-final against Yanina Wickmayer. She led 5-1 in the second set and had three match points before the Belgian fought back. Play was halted with the match finely balanced.

On Sunday, Wickmayer won a fifth straight game and reached deuce on Swiatek’s serve. The Pole wasted two more match points in the tiebreak before clinching a 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) victory.

In the final, Swiatek won the first nine games and never faced a break point as she overpowered the unseeded German.

“It’s not easy to play in Warsaw, but I’m so happy that we could manage and do everything we could today, after a pretty tiring day yesterday,” Swiatek said.

Siegemund had spent more than six hours on court on Saturday as she beat Lucrezia Stefanini and then compatriot Tatjana Maria, both in three sets, to reach a first final since 2017.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t put up more of a battle today, but it was a little bit too much yesterday,” Siegemund said. “The legs, they stayed at the hotel today.”

‘Incredibly emotional’ Zverev ends title drought in Hamburg

Hamburg: Germany’s Alexander Zverev swept past Serb Laslo Djere in straight sets for his first title in nearly two years at his home Hamburg Open on Sunday, boosting his hopes of qualifying for the season-ending ATP Finals.

The former world number two won through 7-5, 6-3 in just under two hours for his first title since the 2021 ATP Finals and the 20th of his career.

“It’s almost like a first title again,” said Zverev. “It’s such a long time, 18 months, and I’m just super happy right now.”

Sunday was the 26-year-old’s first final since Madrid in May 2022 just weeks before he suffered a serious ankle injury in his French Open semi-final against Rafael Nadal.

“At the end of the day, this is my home, this is where I grew up, and this where I started playing tennis,” said Zverev.

“It was incredible for me, incredibly emotional. I can’t describe it in words, I’m just super happy right now.”

The fourth seed proved too powerful for Djere, converting three of his four break point chances, to claim his third victory in as many meetings with the Serb, and the title without dropping a set.

He became the first German since Michael Stich in 1993 to win on the Hamburg clay.

A two-time ATP Finals champion, Zverev has risen three spots to ninth in the ATP Race To Turin, but Taylor Fritz can reclaim ninth place with victory in the Atlanta Open later on Sunday.

However, he praised Djere, the world number 57 who was bidding for his third title.

“I think he was the much better player throughout the first set. I just kind of stuck with it and dug it out somehow,” added Zverev.

“Credit to him, he’s one of the most respected guys on Tour, he’s doing all the right things. At the end, I’m just happy that it went the way it went.”

Cocciaretto wins maiden WTA title in Lausanne

Lausanne: Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto battled past Clara Burel of France to win her first WTA singles title on Sunday in Lausanne.

Second seed Cocciaretto won through 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 to deny Burel a first title in her second final appearance on clay in the Swiss tournament.

In a battle between the two 22-year-olds, 42nd-ranked Cocciaretto outlasted her 84th-ranked rival after 2 hours and 43 minutes on court for her second win in as many meetings with the French player.

Cocciaretto fought back from a break down in the third set, winning the last four games in a row from 4-2 down.

The Italian had previously won two of her matches this week from match point down against home hope Celine Naef in the first round, and Hungary’s Anna Bondar in Saturday’s semi-finals.

In January, the Italian reached her first WTA singles final at Hobart, finishing runner-up to American Lauren Davis.

Popyrin overcomes cramps to win Umag title

Umag, Croatia: Australia’s Alexei Popyrin fought back from a set down and overcame cramping to shatter Stan Wawrinka’s hopes of a first title in six years by winning the Umag clay-court title on Sunday.

The 23-year-old Popyrin, ranked at 90 in the world, came through 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-4 after two hours and 36 minutes on court to claim a second career title to add to his 2021 Singapore victory.

Three-time major winner Wawrinka, 38, was hoping to capture a 17th career title but first since Geneva in 2017.

Wawrinka recovered from 3-5 down in the opening set before claiming the tie-breaker.

Popyrin, 15 years Wawrinka’s junior, levelled by pocketing the second set and was a break ahead in the first game of the decider which he immediately handed back.

The young Australian suffered cramping in the heavy, humid conditions and called for the physio but still carved out the key break in the ninth game before serving out for victory.

“All tournament I’ve been fighting battles that I don’t know how I won. This one tops it all,” Popyrin said on court.

“I felt cramp, I felt (the muscle) strain but I managed to dig deep. I don’t know how I won it.

“The physio said, ‘If you go any more then it will be tough’. I said, ‘There’s no point in quitting now, I’m here in the final. If I lose, I lose. If I retire, I lose anyway. So I have a better chance of winning if I stay in’, so that’s what I decided to do.”

Despite defeat, former world number three Wawrinka will return to the top 50 next week having fallen out of the top 300 after undergoing two surgeries on his feet in 2021.

Popyrin, in turn, will reach a career-high 57.

“It’s an unbelievable honour to play somebody like Stan in a final,” added the Australian.

“I grew up watching him, Roger, Rafa, Novak play. To play him in a final and beat him in a final, words can’t describe how happy I am. It’s an unbelievable feeling.”

Fritz downs Vukic to win Atlanta ATP crown

Atlanta, Georgia (US): World number nine Taylor Fritz shrugged off a second-set wobble to claim the sixth title of his career with victory over Aleksandar Vukic in the ATP Atlanta Open on Sunday.

US number one Fritz dug deep to overpower Australia’s Vukic, ranked 82nd in the world, in 2hr 16min, winning 7-5, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4.

Fritz looked to be heading for a straight sets victory after taking two match points on Vukic’s serve while leading 6-5 in the second set.

But Vukic showed great character to claw his way back from the brink, eventually holding serve with an ace to force a tie-break.

The 27-year-old from Sydney then relied on his thunderous serve to grab the tie-break as Fritz was left ruing a golden chance to wrap up victory.

However the American regained his composure in the deciding set, claiming the decisive break in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead before holding for 5-3.

Vukic then held comfortably but there was no way back as Fritz produced a dominant service game to seal victory.

A booming ace — his 16th of the tournament — brought up three match points at 40-0, and another powerful serve left Vukic flailing with a wild return to give the American the win.