CINCINNATI: Alexander Zverev backed up his Olympic triumph with a fifth ATP Masters 1000 title as he crushed Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-3 in Cincinnati on Sunday.
The German needed less than an hour against his longtime childhood friend and rival to lift the trophy and put himself into a solid position with the US Open starting a week from Monday.
“The US Open starts in a week’s time, so obviously I want to keep it up and I want to maybe play even better there,” Zverev said.
Women’s world number one Ashleigh Barty was similarly impressive in winning her fifth title of the season at the combined ATP and WTA event, cruising past Swiss wild card Jil Teichmann 6-3, 6-1.
The Australian, who will keep a…
