Zverev win sends Nadal packing

Rafael Nadal headed home from the ATP Finals on Friday after defending champion Alexander Zverev’s win against Daniil Medvedev confirmed the Spaniard’s exit from the season-ending tournament.

The world number one recovered to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 7-5 in the early round-robin match at London’s O2 Arena but knew he was dependent on the later result.

Zverev’s 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) win meant he qualified for the semifinals from Group Andre Agassi alongside Tsitsipas.

Tsitsipas, who topped the group, will play six-time champion Roger Federer in Saturday’s semifinals while Zverev will meet Dominic Thiem, who finished ahead of Federer in Group Bjorn Borg.

German seventh seed Zverev broke the fourth-seeded Medvedev early, with the Russian knowing he was already heading out of the tournament after two defeats.

But Medvedev dug deep in the second set, fending off the single break point engineered by Zverev and took the set to a tie-break but could not keep his big-serving opponent at bay.