World Number one tennis player Novak Djokovic continued his dominance yesterday with a straight set victory to win a record seventh ATP title
Djokovic enjoyed a dominant 6-3 6-3 victory over Jannik Sinner in Turin to end the tennis on a high
The Serb who had lost to the Italian in the group stage, avenged that loss as he played some of the best tennis on his way to a comfortable win
Djokovic had been tied with Roger Federer on six ATP Finals title wins, but it was clear from the outset in Sunday’s final that he was hungry to take the outright record.
He established control with an early break and dropped just two points on his serve in an almost flawless display to take the opening set.
A break to love in the opening game of the second set put Djokovic further ahead and made Sinner’s dream of becoming the event’s first Italian champion in front of a noisy home crowd seem impossible.
Sinner’s first break-point chances came in the sixth game of the second set when he went 15-40 on the usually impenetrable Djokovic serve, but the 24-time Grand Slam champion swiftly snuffed out the threat by forcing his opponent into errors from the back of the court.
This year has been full of records for Djokovic. Sunday’s victory pulled him ahead of Federer for titles won at the ATP Finals, while he was confirmed as year-end men’s world number one for a record-extending eighth time earlier in the tournament.
This year he also surpassed Steffi Graf’s record for the most weeks spent at the top of the singles rankings, with his tally now about to stand at 400 from Monday.
Djokovic won three of this season’s four Grand Slam singles titles to overtake Rafael Nadal’s men’s tally of 22 and draw level with Australian Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24.
That included a record-extending 10th title at the Australian Open – which is where in January he will get the chance to become the outright record holder with a 25th major.
His French Open victory in June made him the only man to win a career Grand Slam – all four major titles – three times.
And this year he also set a record for most Grand Slam final appearances with 36, two more than Chris Evert’s previous mark, and earlier this month he won a record-extending seventh Paris Masters trophy for a record-extending 40th Masters title.
While his tour season is over, Djokovic’s playing season continues next week at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga, Spain, where he will lead Serbia in their quarter-final
Before the singles final, there was British success in the doubles when Joe Salisbury and American partner Rajeev Ram retained their title with a straight-set win over Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos.
