Alexander Zverev clinches second Rome Open title, first Masters 1000 since Roland Garros ankle injury

Alexander Zverev's first ATP Masters 1000 title was at the Rome Open and he has won it for a second time in 2024 by defeating Nicolas Jarry in straight sets on Sunday afternoon in the Italian capital 6-4, 7-5.

Zverev has sealed a 22nd career title and his first Masters 1000 title since his catastrophic ankle injury at the 2022 French Open where he was ahead against Rafael Nadal in the biggest match of his life. He had to almost rebuild his career from there, but he has done so successfully.

He was the favourite for most of the tournament with the German facing Nicolas Jarry who in many ways was the story of the tournament. The Chilean who has always been known as a superb clay court operator was into his first ATP Masters 1000 final, but lost out by the narrowest of margins in two sets. From his superb Geneva Open triumph a year ago, he just fell short this time around.

Zverev will now head into Roland Garros as one of the favourites, Jarry will head well within the top 20. Albeit for the former, he has the issue that he has his trial for domestic abuse allegations during the tournament. This will dominate most of the press interest and could be used to discern from his tournament or as fuel. As a result, he will likely be making hay when the sun shines as the phrase goes. But still with the demise of many top names, this favourite tag will likely still be there.

In the opening set, Zverev had multiple chances including at 4-3 up to go one away from the set. But he couldn't seal it until the final game as he took the opener 6-4 with a break at the last opportunity.

It was a similar story in the final set. Albeit the match was fairly prolonged with Zverev having multiple chances to win it. He got over the line while being on the verge of being sent to a tie-break and potentially a third set as a result. Zverev had the chance to win it at 5-4 up. But he spurned two match points. He didn't miss his next opportunity as he turned it around and broke at the final chance before a potential tie-break to seal the win 7-5 after another match point. Jarry saved one more but the German got over the line at advantage with the second set hitting nearly an hour.