Alexander Zverev missed the tennis final in Beijing against Daniil Medvedev

When he congratulated his long-time rival on his victory at the net, Olympic tennis champion Alexander Zverev was even able to smile. In the high-class semifinals in Beijing on Tuesday, the 26-year-old was eliminated 4:6, 3:6 against Daniil Medvedev. The Russian world number three was too strong for Zverev in the crucial moments. Zverev missed his third final this season. His successful streak in China ended after seven wins in a row.

After a very short break, Zverev, who has been a bit physically ailing recently, will continue directly at the Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai. After a bye in the first round, the German number one will play against the Russian Roman Safiullin or the Brit Andy Murray. In the final against Safiullin in Chengdu last week, Zverev secured his 21st ATP title.

“I’m a little under the weather”

The Hamburger’s big goal for the final spurt of this tennis year is to qualify for the ATP Finals of the best eight professionals of the season from November 12th to 19th in Turin. The points collected in China are an important step towards this. Zverev had won the last duel with Medvedev, but had only won two of the most recent ten comparisons with the Russian, who was one year older.

In the fight for a place in the final in Beijing, the tenth in the world rankings seemed to be more out of breath in the longer rallies than his rival. Nevertheless, Zverev had the first two break points of the game at 3:3, but was unable to gain the advantage. Instead, the North German had to give up his serve game a little later. At 4:5 that meant losing the set.

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Zverev had not been completely fit during the days in Beijing and had reported feeling a bit ill. “I’m a bit under the weather, it’s very demanding on the body overall,” he said after the quarter-final victory over Chilean Nicolas Jarry. In the hard-fought duel with Medvedev, Zverev was unable to gain anything in the second set either.

Medvedev played almost flawlessly and fended off both of Zverev’s break points. The Hamburger, however, lost his serve to make it 3:5 – after 85 minutes, Zverev went to the net to shake hands. Medvedev will now face Italian Jannik Sinner in the final, who beat world number two Carlos Alcaraz 7:6 (7:4), 6:1.