Alexander Zverev came up with a dominant performance to capture the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday.
He defeated (Russian Olympic Committee) ROC’s Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-1 in 79 minutes in the final.
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Zverev guaranteed himself at least a silver medal on Friday when he battled back from a set down to upset top seed Novak Djokovic to end the Serbian’s hopes of a historic Golden Grand Slam.
The fourth seed backed that performance up by serving well and hitting the ball with great power throughout Sunday’s final against Khachanov.
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The 24-year-old won 87 per cent (26/30) of his first-service points and fired 22 winners to become the first German man to win an Olympic singles gold medal in tennis.
“There is nothing better than this,” Zverev told ITFtennis.com. “You are not only playing for yourself, you are playing for your country, and the Olympics are the biggest sporting event in the world. The feeling I have now, and will have, nothing will be better.”
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Zverev, who dropped just one set in Tokyo, has won ATP Tour titles at the Madrid Masters and the Mexican Open this year.
“He played from the beginning to the end an unbelievable match,” Khachanov told ITFtennis.com.
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“I also played an outstanding match from my point of view, but he was just better today – all credit to him. I was dreaming of gold, but I’ll give it a try at the next Olympics.”
Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta won the bronze medal on Saturday.
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In the women’s singles, Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic overcame Marketa Vondoursova 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 in the final to claim the gold medal. Elina Svitolina won bronze.
