At the finish line, showing no sign of the bicep strain that forced him to withdraw from the United Cup, Zverev fired his seventh ace of the match to secure victory. The German won 72 per cent of first serve points and clocked a first serve average of 207 km/h, almost 20 km/h faster than Paul’s 188 km/h. His second serve average was quicker by a larger margin: 176 km/h to 144 km/h.
Paul acknowledged Zverev outplayed him on clutch points.
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“He picks up his level at the big moments, and my level unfortunately dropped in the big moments today,” said the 27-year-old, whose silver lining is a career-high top 10 debut next week.
“I just have to close those sets…