Novak Djokovic has won the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai for the fourth time. The former world number one defeated Borna Coric from Croatia in two sets.
He did not lose a single set, not a single service game – Novak Djokovic has surfed through the penultimate ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the season. And he won his fourth title in Shanghai with a 6-3 and 6-4 after 96 minutes against Borna Coric and the 32nd in the second highest category in men’s tennis.
Coric held up well at the beginning, but had to give up his serve in the sixth game after a forehand had hit behind the baseline. Djokovic didn’t allow a single break point in the entire first set, but after 38 minutes he won 6-3.
The initial situation couldn’t have been more difficult for Coric: Djokovic had won a title match in China ten times before the Shanghai final – and just as often. In addition, the Serbian has successfully played the last 17 matches, had won 24 sets in a row.
The performances of the two Shanghai finalists had been impressive throughout, especially in the preliminary round: Djokovic Alexander Zverev hadn’t given Coric defending champion Roger Federer a chance.
And Novak Djokovic started the second round with a break, a neck stroke from which Coric should not recover. Even if the Croatian fought his way back to 1:2 in a game that lasted longer than twelve minutes. For comparison: Djokovic needed only 79 seconds to set to 3:1.
Then there was a premiere: Coric’s first break point, which Djokovic defended against. At 5:3 from the favourite’s point of view, Coric was able to defend three match points with his own service – the third was played by the 14-time Major winner from Belgrade with a Smash. As a serve, however, Djokovic remained flawless, winning the final game of the final to zero.
With his fourth victory in Shanghai, Novak Djokovic has moved up to 215 points in the ATP World Ranking to Rafael Nadal, Borna Coric will have reached a new career high with 13th place on Monday.
Here the single tableau in Shanghai