“I had a very difficult final in New York, I still think about it,” Zverev said, emphasizing how “extremely important” it was to win in his first final after New York.

In September Zverev suffered a hard five-set defeat against Dominic Thiem after he blew a two-sets-to-love lead in the championship match, as well as a 5-3 advantage in the decider.

“I’m simply happy, I played very well today, was concentrated,” he said.

Currently world number seven, Zverev did not want to miss the trophy opportunity in the smaller of two tournaments on home ground.

A second event starts on Monday, again in Cologne, and the desire for the next title is great, said Zverev.

The game against Auger Aliassime was the hardest one for the German in Cologne. Zverev had minor concentration problems as when after a fabulous start and a 5-2 lead he lost his serve for the first time.

But he played variably and faster, and managed to make the Canadian go for more from neutral positions, leading to errors on key points.

Only fans in the VIP boxes were able to see Zverev lift his trophy and a 25,000 euros (29,250 dollars) money prize.

In this turbulent year Zverev has once again made it to the winner’s list. The fact that he has won at least one title every year since 2016 it’s an important statistic for him, as he said himself after the semi-final against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.