(Paris) Novak Djokovic, defending champion, eliminated the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4) on Saturday and thus qualified for his eighth final of the Masters 1000 in Paris where he will be opposed to the young Dane Holger Rune.
Posted at 2:42 p.m.
“I started this match very well. Afterwards, he found solutions, he raised his level of play and, at one point, it became difficult for me to find the right shot, ”acknowledged the winner.
The 35-year-old Serb is aiming for a seventh title in the Paris hall, on 39e in the Masters 1000 (record), while Rune, 19, reached the final of a tournament of this importance for the first time in his career.
Djokovic remained on seven consecutive victories against Tsitsipas, but the latter was the only player not to have conceded his service of the tournament yet.
PHOTO CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Novak Djokovic (L) and Stefanos Tsitsipas at the end of the match.
The match started with three shutouts, with Djokovic being the first to win a service rally on the 14th.e point of the game.
This time, Tsitsipas held his face-off, but he gave up the next two: from 2-2, the Serb fielded five straight games to complete the first set and take a 1-0 lead in the second.
Sign of the domination of the “Djoker” in the first set, he committed only one unforced error (against eleven for Tsitsipas) and scored nine winning strokes (against six for the Greek).
Tsitsipas stopped the bleeding by winning his first service game of the second set.
” Marvellous ”
And while Djokovic had won all the points played on his first serve in the first set, his percentage fell to 65% in the second. Having committed twelve unforced errors (against 10 for Tsitsipas), it was this time the Serb who gave up two of his service games and allowed his opponent to equalize at one set everywhere.
In the decisive set, Djokovic twice had two break points (at 1-1 and 4-4), but having failed to materialize, the two players came to a tiebreaker.
Tsitsipas scored the mini-break to lead 4/3, but Djokovic then lined up a four-point run to end the game.
“At this stage of my career, these matches are wonderful,” savored the Serb.
With this fourteenth victory in a row at Bercy, since his defeat in the final in 2018 against the Russian Karen Khachanov, Djokovic also extends his winning streak to thirteen since September.
Deprived of a North American tour this summer for having refused the anti-covid vaccine, he did not play on the circuit for more than two months after his victory at Wimbledon in July. But he has won all his matches since his return, winning the titles in Tel Aviv and Astana before coming to Paris.
Djokovic and Tsitsipas have qualified for the ATP Masters which begin on November 13 in Turin and bring together the eight best players of the season.