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October 19, 2015

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Home » Sports » Tennis

Djokovic takes Shanghai crown

By Ma Yue | October 19, 2015, Monday | Print Edition

NOVAK Djokovic remained untouchable in what he described as his best season and collected his third Shanghai Rolex Masters title yesterday, beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a one-sided final 6-2, 6-4.

The world No. 1, who did not drop a set en route to the championship at the Qizhong Tennis Center, also lifted the trophy in 2012 and 2013. It’s his ninth title and fifth ATP Masters 1000 crown of the season. He has not missed a single final this year except for the season-opener in Doha, Qatar.

“This has been the best two weeks of my life, my career. I think I have played the best tennis ever in these two weeks in terms of back-to-back,” said the Serb, who continued to wear a red shirt, which he knows as a “lucky national color”.

“Energy-wise, I was great. I didn’t get tired. I always had plenty of intensity, concentration, high-performance level from the first match in Beijing to today’s match,” he added.

It was the 20th meeting between the two players and Djokovic holds a 14-6 record, though all of Tsonga’s victories have come on hardcourts.

The Frenchman picked up form a bit slow coming into his first final in Shanghai, dropping his first two service games and fell 0-3 behind in the first set. He broke one back in the fourth, but gave away the next two games to hand Djokovic a 5-2 lead. The Serb created three set points and closed out the first up in half an hour.

The second set was not so different regarding the confident Serb’s accuracy in groundstrokes, spinning, rallies, almost everything, while big serves seemed to be Tsonga’s only efficient weapon; he fired all his five aces in the set, making it a tournament-high 69 aces in his five matches here.

The score was level after the first eight games of the set before a double fault by the Frenchman in the ninth game gave Djokovic a 5-4 advantage, and the latter did not allow his opponent to a single point in the last game, claiming victory after a wide Tsonga return.

“Today I didn’t serve well enough to make him doubt, especially in the first set,” said Tsonga. “There is nothing to say: I think his level is just better than everybody at the moment.”

Figures also indicated Djokovic’s dominance, his first and second serve winning percentage reached 86% and 75%, respectively, compared to Tsonga’s 70% and 16%.

Djokovic traditionally plays well during the two-week China swing — at the China Open in Beijing and later in Shanghai. He holds a perfect 10-0 record in finals played in China, including his victory at the 2008 Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai.

He has the habit of writing different Chinese characters on the courtside camera, and the latest was “Xi”, or happy, after yesterday’s win. He even started his post-match speech with a few Mandarin words to express thanks to his supporters.

“I try to learn a new Chinese character, a new phrase, every day. I need to work on my phrases more because I’ve been saying one same thing for too many years. So hopefully at this time next year you will hear a little bit more.”

The Serb pocketed US$913,600 in prize money as well as 1,000 ATP ranking points to reach a total of 16,785, nearly double the 8,750 of second-placed Andy Murray of Britain, and will finish world No. 1 for the fourth time in five years.

The runner-up’s 600 points helped Tsonga jump from No. 15 to No. 9 in the race for the season-ending final in London — 945 points fewer than No. 8 David Ferrer of Spain.

A total of 151,000 spectators showed up at Qizhong Tennis Center in suburban Minhang District during the past week, according to the organizers.

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