And then there were two. The final of the St. Petersburg Open is set. Top seed Stan Wawrinka will look to win his 12th consecutive final and fifth title of 2016 when he takes on fifth-seeded young gun Alexander Zverev, who is seeking the first title of his career. The pair will do battle on Sunday afternoon for the St. Petersburg crown, so let’s take a look forward to tomorrow’s final.
How they got here
Wawrinka comes into the match in good form, having won ten consecutive matches and has not lost a set since the first set of the US Open final two weeks ago. He opened the tournament with a blowout win over Lukas Rosol before wearing down seventh seed Viktor Troicki in the quarterfinals. He faced a test in the form of Roberto Bautista Agut in the semifinals, but the Spaniard could not keep up with the top seed, eventually falling in straight sets.
Like Wawrinka, Zverev comes into the final without having dropped a set. The young German struggled early in sets through the first two rounds, but managed to battle back every time, beating Karen Khachanov and Daniil Medvedev. He turned things around in the quarterfinals, blowing out veteran Mikhail Youzhny. In the semifinals, he powered past third seed Tomas Berdych for the second top ten win of his career.
The History
This will be the first meeting Wawrinka and Zverev. These are two men who could not be at more different points in their careers. 19-year-old Zverev is a player on the rise, but is still looking for his first career title. Wawrinka, 31, is at the height of his power, coming off his third career grand slam title and ranked third in the world. Wawrinka has won more titles this year than Zverev has made finals in his entire career. The Swiss has won 11 straight finals, his last loss coming in June 2013.
Analysis
Both men are coming into this final playing some of their best tennis. They have both been rallying well and doing a very good job of defending their serves. Neither man was broken in the semifinals. Assuming they both carry their form into the final, they will both be fighting to find breaks of serve.
Wawrinka is the heavy favourite in this match, as he can do almost everything better than Zverev. While the German is serving well, Wawrinka’s serve in better. The Swiss also possesses bigger ground strokes than the German. However, Zverev shouldn’t be too bothered by this, as he has beaten back-to-back players who hit the ball harder than he does.
The top seed’s game plan is simple: hit the ball hard and bully Zverev around the court. The German’s plan will be similar to what he did in the last two rounds: grind, extend rallies, and take advantage of every opportunity. He cannot miss what few opportunities Wawrinka might give him. If Zverev hopes to pull an upset, he will need to be near perfect with his serve and strokes. He needs to keep Wawrinka out of the zone where he is swinging freely and maybe force some errors out of the Swiss. If he allows the top seed to dictate, it will be very hard for him to win.
Prediction: Wawrinka in two sets
There may not be a better finals player in the world than Wawrinka at the moment and he is in the zone going into this final. While Zverev could cause him some trouble, Wawrinka has had all the answers so far this week and his veteran experience should earn him a fifth title of the year.