Acapulco (Mexico), March 21 (IANS): German tennis star Alexander Zverev was too strong for top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Mexican Open final, claiming the title in straight sets after a stunning turnaround.
In a battle of the top two seeds, Zverev reigned supreme 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) for his 14th ATP crown in Saturday's decider.
Last year's US Open finalist Zverev was runner-up at the ATP 500 tournament in 2019, beaten by Australian Nick Kyrgios in straight sets.
But Zverev went one step further this year, taking down two-time Australian Open semifinalist Tsitsipas after two hours, 17 minutes.
Zverev, who was rocked during his semifinal win over countryman Dominik Koepfer on Friday as a 5.7 magnitude earthquake shook the broadcast cameras, did not drop a set throughout his title-winning run.
"In the beginning I started off extremely bad, I thought I didn't play well at all. I had to fight my way into the match, and I did well to win the first set," Zverev said, DPA news reported.
"In the second set, when I have a chance I need to close it out against these top players because normally they won't give you a second chance. I thought I played extremely well in the tie-break, I'm happy with how it went," he added.
Greek star Tsitsipas made an impressive start, racing out to a 3-0 lead after breaking Zverev in the second game.
Zverev, though, hit back as he put the set back on serve in the seventh game before consolidating.
Another break saw Tsitsipas come unstuck with Zverev reeling off six consecutive games to claim the opening set in red-hot fashion.
Zverev and Tsitsipas went toe-to-toe in the second set, the pair exchanging breaks late as a tie-break eventually saw the former complete a dominant display.