Zverev doubles down in Cologne, Humbert captures second 2020 title

It’s not often a player has the chance to win two titles in two weeks while playing on the same exact court, but that’s exactly what Alexander Zverev did in the second edition of the Cologne ATP 250. The perfect indoor conditions helped the German’s humongous first serve, while the slower than normal hard court perfectly complimented his rock-solid ground game and exceptional court coverage.

Zverev did to Diego Schwartzman what he did to the rest of the field in Cologne for the past two weeks. He dominated on serve, and suffocated his opponents with heavy groundstrokes and supreme consistency. Striking a clean winner against the 6’6” German proved to be a nearly impossible feat.

The 23-year-old now owns 13 ATP titles, putting him tied for 72nd on the all-time list, quite an impressive feat for a player whose career has basically just begun.

“He improved literally every match this week,” Chanda Rubin said on Tennis Channel Live.

“That was the best match I’ve ever seen Zverev play,” added Nico Pereira.

In Antwerp, Frenchman Ugo Humbert captured his second career title, and second of the 2020 season with an impressive 6-1, 7-6 (4) over speedster Alex de Minaur. Humbert’s ultra-compact groundstrokes proved effective against the Australian’s oppressive ground-game.

Humbert has proved his game is effective on all surfaces. “He’s a mixture between lefties Henri Leconte and Guy Forget,” Pereira added.

With France’s golden generation of Richard Gasquet, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon, and Gael Monfils nearing the final stages of their careers, Humbert is certainly a bright spot for the future of French tennis.