Armed with "a really good game plan," Alexander Zverev turns the tables on Daniil Medvedev in Cincy

WATCH: Alexander Zverev speaks with Tennis Channel after defeating Daniil Medvedev in Cincinnati.

CINCINNATI, Ohio—As Daniil Medvedev’s final return of serve sailed slowly and harmlessly beyond the baseline, Alexander Zverev raised his arms and eyes to the sky, and kept them there for an extra blink or two. It was a look of long-delayed relief, and, possibly, gradually growing belief.

“I definitely wanted to win this,” he said after his 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 victory. “Moments like this, all the suffering makes it so much more special.”

Zverev had been suffering in two ways. In 2022, he suffered through a six-month layoff after tearing a ligament in his ankle at Roland Garros. In 2023, he suffered through three straight losses to Medvedev, two of which were contentious and crushingly close. Going back to 2016, the German and the Russian had split their first 12 meetings evenly, but Medvedev appeared to have found the key to beating him this season. Zverev even accused Medvedev of playing mind games and creating distractions whenever he fell behind against him, but the two seem to be OK now.

Has Zverev found his own key to beating Medvedev? If so, it may have come from an interesting source. Zverev told Tennis Channel (video above) today that he recently played golf with Carlos Alcaraz, who “gave me a really good game plan” for Medvedev. Alcaraz is the right guy to consult; he has owned Medvedev this season.

From what Zverev said, the plan consisted of playing “slowly”—i.e., not giving Medvedev any rhythm or pace to work with from the baseline—and taking advantage of his deep court position by attacking the net. Zverev came to net 46 times and won 30 points there. Those tactics also gelled with the windy conditions in the Grandstand today, which played havoc with both guys’ games and kept the rallies much shorter than usual.

“You have to be extremely patient against him,” Zverev said of Medvedev. “He gives you absolutely nothing, so you have to win the match yourself.”

Yet he almost didn’t. Serving at 3-4 in the third set, Zverev faced two break points; if he had lost one of them, Medvedev would have served for it at 5-3. This time, though, Zverev came up with the serves he needed to bail himself out, and was able to “swing a little freer,” as he said, at 4-4, when he uncorked two sensational forehands and a backhand pass.

“At the end of the day, it comes down to one or two points,” Zverev said.

He didn’t want to get ahead of himself, confidence-wise. A few weeks ago, he won his home tournament in Hamburg. When he came to Toronto last week, he said he “felt like I was at the top of my game,” only to have a “horrendous week” and lose badly in the second round.

“It can change very quickly, from positive to negative,” Zverev said. But clearly this was a win he needed.

How about the loser? How should Medvedev feel about his form heading into the US Open, a tournament where he has excelled over the years? He was dominant on hard courts during the winter and spring, winning four tournaments in five weeks on the surface. But when he came here, he said his game was missing something.

“I felt like I was missing a little bit one shot where I could just hit the guy straight away and put him in trouble,” Medvedev said of his performance in Toronto, where he lost to Alex De Minaur. “So I’m going try to do this. Two, three days I have in practice and hopefully I can integrate it also during the tournament.”

That integration will have to wait. Whether it was the wind or Zverev’s slow-ball tactics or both, Medvedev wasn’t able to put his opponent in much trouble today. If anything, he played more defensively than normal, hitting just 13 winners to 38 from Zverev. His biggest problem right now might be Alcaraz: Not only has the Spaniard beaten him twice this season, now he’s telling other guys how to do it.

Zverev and Medvedev won’t be the favorites in New York, but they have to be in the conversation. Medvedev has been a champion (2021) and a runner-up (2019) there, and Zverev was a couple of points from winning the title in 2020. This match may have been mostly about the wind, but it was also about one guy gaining a little momentum, and another guy losing a little, as they head into the year’s last Slam.