Top seed Alexander Zverev bagged his first ATP crown of the year after beating Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3 6-3 to lift the bett1HULKS Indoor title in Cologne on Sunday.
The German, who lost the US Open final last month and exited the French Open in the fourth round, needed only an hour and 20 minutes to get the better of the 20-year-old Canadian thanks to a dominant service game.
Zverev, 23, won 80% of his first service points and an overwhelming 88% on his second serve while he also converted four of 10 break points to hand Auger-Aliassime - who is still searching for his first title - a sixth defeat in a final.
"I had a very tough final in New York and the next final I played here I wanted to come out and obviously play my best tennis," Zverev said.
"Felix, you're an unbelievable player. I know it doesn't mean much right now, but I'm sure you're not only going to win one title, you're going to win multiple titles in your career, bigger titles than this."
Victory gave Zverev his 12th ATP title and his third on home soil after he won the Munich Open in 2017 and 2018.
Zverev has already qualified for the season-ending ATP Finals in London next month but will remain in Cologne for the bett1HULKS Championships this week where he is again the top seed.
Russian third seed Andrey Rublev won his fourth ATP Tour title of the year when he beat Croatia's Borna Coric 7-6(5) 6-4 to lift the St Petersburg Open trophy.
Having also won tournaments in Doha, Adelaide and Hamburg this year, Rublev is now tied with Novak Djokovic for most titles in 2020 and the 22-year-old is also three wins shy of the world number one's 37 victories.
It was deja vu for Coric as he finished runner-up in St Petersburg to a Russian again after a straight sets loss to Daniil Medvedev last year.
Rublev was flawless on his serve and never gave Coric a break point opportunity. After the opening set went with serve, Rublev clinched it on the tiebreak despite being 2-5 down before converting a break point in the second to emerge victorious.
Victory also gave Rublev a big push in his quest to qualify for next month's season-ending ATP Finals for the first time and the Russian will move up to eighth in the world rankings.
Two spots remain to be filled as Rublev leads Argentina's Diego Schwartzman, who currently occupies the final qualification position.
World number one Novak Djokovic, French Open champion Rafael Nadal, U.S. Open winner Dominic Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev have already qualified for the ATP Finals.
Serbia's Laslo Djere beat Italy's Marco Cecchinato 7-6(3) 7-5 on Sunday to win his second career ATP title at the Sardinia Open, the final claycourt tournament of the year.
Djere capitalised on Cecchinato's poor second serve to convert four break points in the match while the Italian also made a slew of errors in the tiebreak to hand his opponent the advantage.
The Serb started the second set on the front foot and nearly took a 3-0 lead before the home favourite mounted a comeback.
Djere lost some of his rhythm and made a few errors himself but kept his nerve before eventually breaking Cecchinato in the final game.
Cecchinato was looking to become the first Italian to win a title on home soil in 14 years but took solace in the fact that his run to the final would see him enter the top 100 in the rankings.
- Reuters
Zverev dominates Auger-Aliassime to win indoor title in Cologne
Image: THILO SCHMUELGEN / REUTERS
Top seed Alexander Zverev bagged his first ATP crown of the year after beating Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3 6-3 to lift the bett1HULKS Indoor title in Cologne on Sunday.
The German, who lost the US Open final last month and exited the French Open in the fourth round, needed only an hour and 20 minutes to get the better of the 20-year-old Canadian thanks to a dominant service game.
Zverev, 23, won 80% of his first service points and an overwhelming 88% on his second serve while he also converted four of 10 break points to hand Auger-Aliassime - who is still searching for his first title - a sixth defeat in a final.
"I had a very tough final in New York and the next final I played here I wanted to come out and obviously play my best tennis," Zverev said.
"Felix, you're an unbelievable player. I know it doesn't mean much right now, but I'm sure you're not only going to win one title, you're going to win multiple titles in your career, bigger titles than this."
Victory gave Zverev his 12th ATP title and his third on home soil after he won the Munich Open in 2017 and 2018.
Zverev has already qualified for the season-ending ATP Finals in London next month but will remain in Cologne for the bett1HULKS Championships this week where he is again the top seed.
Russian third seed Andrey Rublev won his fourth ATP Tour title of the year when he beat Croatia's Borna Coric 7-6(5) 6-4 to lift the St Petersburg Open trophy.
Having also won tournaments in Doha, Adelaide and Hamburg this year, Rublev is now tied with Novak Djokovic for most titles in 2020 and the 22-year-old is also three wins shy of the world number one's 37 victories.
It was deja vu for Coric as he finished runner-up in St Petersburg to a Russian again after a straight sets loss to Daniil Medvedev last year.
Rublev was flawless on his serve and never gave Coric a break point opportunity. After the opening set went with serve, Rublev clinched it on the tiebreak despite being 2-5 down before converting a break point in the second to emerge victorious.
Victory also gave Rublev a big push in his quest to qualify for next month's season-ending ATP Finals for the first time and the Russian will move up to eighth in the world rankings.
Two spots remain to be filled as Rublev leads Argentina's Diego Schwartzman, who currently occupies the final qualification position.
World number one Novak Djokovic, French Open champion Rafael Nadal, U.S. Open winner Dominic Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev have already qualified for the ATP Finals.
Serbia's Laslo Djere beat Italy's Marco Cecchinato 7-6(3) 7-5 on Sunday to win his second career ATP title at the Sardinia Open, the final claycourt tournament of the year.
Djere capitalised on Cecchinato's poor second serve to convert four break points in the match while the Italian also made a slew of errors in the tiebreak to hand his opponent the advantage.
The Serb started the second set on the front foot and nearly took a 3-0 lead before the home favourite mounted a comeback.
Djere lost some of his rhythm and made a few errors himself but kept his nerve before eventually breaking Cecchinato in the final game.
Cecchinato was looking to become the first Italian to win a title on home soil in 14 years but took solace in the fact that his run to the final would see him enter the top 100 in the rankings.
- Reuters
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