WASHINGTON, July 31, 2018 (News Wires) - World number three Alexander Zverev begins his bid to defend consecutive ATP hardcourt titles at the Washington Open. The 21-year-old German hopes to repeat last year's success when he beat South African Kevin Anderson in the Washington final and then beat Roger Federer a week later in the final of the Canadian Open. "Washington is perfect preparation for Toronto and Cincinnati," Zverev said, eyeing the major tuneups ahead of US Open. "I've done a good two weeks of training, just general stuff. It was like a mini off-season for me, just a lot of work trying to get ready for the hardcourts." Zverev will be the top seed for the milestone edition of the Washington event ahead of ninth-ranked John Isner, who is coming off his career-best Grand Slam run to the Wimbledon semi-finals and his 14th career ATP title last week in Atlanta. The Washington champions' list includes such legends as Arthur Ashe, Ken Rosewall, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl and Andre Agassi. "This tournament has a list of great champions," Zverev said. "I'm glad to be part of that and I'm going to do my best to win it again." Zverev seeks his ninth career ATP title and third of the year. He defended a claycourt crown in Munich, his first repeat title, and lost to Rafael Nadal in the final at Madrid in defending the Spanish crown. "Us young guys, we have to get through a lot of first times," Zverev said. "I've been through that stage a lot already."
