Powerless Novak Djokovic hits enough shots over the net
The Serbian Grand Slam record winner Novak Djokovic has won the ATP Masters tournament in Paris-Bercy for the seventh time. In the final, the 36-year-old world number one and last year's finalist defeated the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, ranked 16 positions lower, 6:4, 6:3.
Djokovic, who lost to Denmark's Holger Rune in last season's Paris final, celebrated his sixth title win of the season by winning the tournament in the French capital. By contrast, his opponent in the final, Dimitrov, who is four years younger, is still waiting for his first tournament win since 2017.
"It's incredible that I won this tournament after always being on the brink of defeat in the three previous rounds. Grigor and I ran out of steam in the final, but somehow I always managed to get one more shot over the net. Even though it was closer in the final than the result, I'm very proud," said Djokovic after the 97th tournament win of his career. The Serb ended the year as number one in the world rankings for the eighth time, a record.
On his way to winning the final, Djokovic had beaten the Russian Andrei Rublev 5:7, 7:6 (7:3), 7:5 in the semi-final. Dimitrov knocked the Greek world number six Stefanos Tsitsipas, who had eliminated Olympic champion Alexander Zverev in the round of 16, out of the tournament with a 6:3, 6:7 (1:7), 7:6 (7:3) win.
Despite his elimination in the round of 16, Paris still brought a happy ending for Zverev. The result was enough for Germany's top player to qualify for the ATP Finals, where Zverev can play in Turin from November 12.
Zverev benefited from defeats by his direct rivals Hubert Hurkacz (Poland) and Alex de Minaur (Australia) in the quarter-finals after days of trembling as the eight best professionals in the world reached the end of the season in Piedmont, Italy. Zverev finished seventh in the decisive "Race to Turin" and can no longer be ousted from the field of participants.
Source: www.ntv.de
