Zverev’s comfort on the surface ultimately shone through as he dismissed Shelton, 6-2, 6-4. The Hamburg native who has now won 29 of his past 30 matches against left-handers, celebrated his 24th career tour-level title. A quarter of those have occurred in Germany.

“It’s probably the most special thing I can do. It’s definitely a great birthday present, let’s put it that way,” Zverev said afterwards.

A double fault from Shelton in the deuce court handed the top seed a break to start the final. Zverev would run with the immediate advantage, producing a consistent rhythm on his serve and from the baseline to keep the pressure across the net.