?Germany's Alexander Zverev celebrates after the men's singles final match of BMW Open 2018 against his compatriot Philipp Kohlschreiber in Munich, Germany, on May 6, 2018. Alexander Zverev won 2-0 to claim the title. (Xinhua/Philippe Ruiz)
BERLIN, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Mischa Zverev defended his title after easing past Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-3 on clay in an all-German Munich Open final on Sunday.
Kohlschreiber was chasing his fourth title from six finals but Zverev played too powerfully from the baseline and wrapped up his first title of the year and the seventh ATP title in his career. Both players were able to hold serve until the seventh game before Zverev utilized a break point to grab a 4-3 lead and the first set.
Zverev continued on the front foot and played powerful tennis to secure the 2-1 lead in the second set. However Kohlschreiber rallied back and immediately cancelled out the break.
Kohlschreiber wasn't able to keep up the momentum and Zverev smoothed the way for his title defense after breaking again to take a 5-3 lead.
"It was a tough match. The result doesn't reflect the course of the match. It could have gone both ways.
We both know each other very well, it is always fun. I hope we can play a lot of finals against each other," Zverev said.
"Mischa was better today. He is a great champion," Philipp Kohlschreiber said.
