Alexander Zverev outdoes Nicolas Jarry to win second Rome title, sixth Masters 1000 crown

Alexander Zverev has ended the breakthrough run of Nicolas Jarry, 6-4, 7-5, to capture the title in Rome for the second time in his career, having first won it as a 20-year-old back in 2017.

Jarry was playing the first Masters 1000 final of his career, and was actually the first Chilean to reach a Masters 1000 final since Fernando Gonzalez also did it in the Italian capital in 2007.

But Zverev was just too solid, winning in straight sets to clinch his sixth Masters 1000 title, adding to previous triumphs at Rome and Canada in 2017, Madrid in 2018 and Madrid and Cincinnati in 2021.

He’s now tied with Daniil Medvedev for ninth-most Masters 1000 titles since that level of tournament began in 1990.

It’s the 22nd overall ATP title of his career.

MOST CAREER MASTERS 1000 TITLES (since 1990):
40: Novak Djokovic
36: Rafael Nadal
28: Roger Federer
17: Andre Agassi
14: Andy Murray
11: Pete Sampras
8: Thomas Muster
7: Michael Chang
6: Daniil Medvedev
6: Alexander Zverev

And speaking of Medvedev, Zverev will now rise from No. 5 to No. 4 on the ATP rankings, passing Medvedev, just in time for the seeds to be made at Roland Garros—and barring any withdrawals, it could be a critical move for the German with the No. 4 seed avoiding any of the Top 3 seeds until at least the semifinals in Paris.

The last two players standing at the Foro Italico were neck-and-neck throughout the championship match on Sunday, but Zverev raised his game when it mattered most, right at the tail end of both sets—he broke in the very last game of the first set and again in the very last game of the second set, the only two breaks of the match.

Not only did Zverev never face a break point in 11 service games, but he was never even pushed to deuce in any of them—he also had almost twice as many winners as unforced errors, 15 to 8.

Jarry, who had taken out Monte Carlo champion Stefanos Tsitsipas—among others—en route to the final, had the same amount of winners as Zverev (15) but almost four times the errors (29).

“He’s playing huge, you can see by the opponents he beat and how he beat them this week,” Zverev said of the Chilean.

“Today I’m obviously extremely happy to be the winner.”

The former No. 2 will now head to Roland Garros, where he’s reached the semifinals the last three years in a row.

“The focus is on Paris, that’s for sure,” he said. “But let me enjoy this one for a day or so, and then I’ll have my full focus on Paris.”