Alexander Zverev wins Citi Open

Alexander Zverev, the No. 8 player in the ATP men's rankings  easily dispatched South African veteran Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday to win the Washington event for his fourth title of the year, tying the victory total of Rafael Nadal in 2017.

Only Roger Federer has more titles this season, with five.

The 20-year-old German made just seven unforced errors and didn't face a break point on the fast outdoor hard court at Rock Creek Park, never giving his No. 45-ranked opponent a chance to get into the match, which lasted just under 70 minutes. This took Zverev's career record against Anderson to 3-0.

"It was a great match," said Zverev, the tournament's fifth seed.  "I felt unbelievable starting from the quarterfinals and from then it got better and better every match I played."

Zverev said his goal going forward was to go deeper into Grand Slams.

"I've lost in five sets against Rafa, five sets against (Milos) Raonic," he said. "At some stage I want to win those kind of matches and get further in Grand Slams.

Winning the Citi Open title should give the young German confidence heading into the last Grand Slam of the season, the US Open, which starts on August 28.

In the women's final at Washington later on Sunday, Russia's Ekaterina Markova defeated Germany's Julia Görges 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 0-6.

This has been a good weekend for German tennis, after Philipp Kohlschreiber claimed the eighth ATP Tour title of his career by brushing aside Joao Sousa 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the claycourt event at Kitzbuhel on Saturday.

pfd/rd (AP, Reuters)