Tennis
Novak Djokovic got off to a solid start at the $14.75 million ATP Finals in Turin on Monday night. The Serb, who was only seeded No. 7 but is still considered the favorite of many, defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6: 4 7: 6 (7/4) and thus celebrated his ninth consecutive victory against the Greek second seed. Djokovic is aiming to win his sixth Masters title in Turin, which would tie him with Swiss record holder Roger Federer.
After 1:37 hours, the very mature Djokovic, who single-handedly won 17 forehands, celebrated his first green set victory. Appropriately, the 21-time major winner also wore green. “The first match was very important, starting with a break gives you a lot of self-confidence,” Djokovic explained while still on the court. “I held serve very well after that and played a great game.”
Djokovic remained intact after the opening break. At 1: 2 in the second set, he made the only save against himself, after which the tie-break continued without losing serve. In this, the Joker quickly took the lead at 5:1, and used the first match ball at 6:4.
“There are no clear favorites here, the best of the season here,” Djokovic said regarding his other matches. In any case, the conditions in Turin are very fast.
Medvedev was defeated by Rublev
In the high-profile first match of the day, sixth seed Andrei Rublev had previously won the duel against Daniil Medvedev (RUSSIA/4) 6: 7 (7/9) 6: 3 7: 6 (9/7) in the green set. For the 25-year-old, this is the second victory in a row against his fellow Russian in the sixth duel.
Rublev beats Medvedev at the start
Rublev was superior in the early stages to the current winners in Vienna, but Medvedev played better when he was 5-2 behind. Rublev still had two set pieces, but it went into a tie-break. In that he was leading 6:2, but he also missed these four balls as well as another later. On the other hand, the 26-year-old Medvedev hit his first chance after a serve from Rublev was mistakenly missed and the newly played point went to the easy favourite.
In the second set, Rublev broke to make it 2-1 and never gave up the advantage. In the decisive round, there was another break, and the level of play reached its peak. Once again Rublew missed opportunities, which are four match points. After 2:31 hours of play, he finally converted his fifth match point.
ATP Finals in Turin
(Italy, $14,750,000, hard/indoor)
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