Novak Djokovic defeats Stefanos Tsitsipas in Astana Open final to win his 90th career ATP title, his sixth Grand Slam crown
Novak Djokovic pulled out all the stops to win his fifth major title of the season at the Astana Open.
The Serbian champion overcame a first-round injury to Stefanos Tsitsipas to set up an unforgettable match that lasted three hours and 10 minutes. The first set was close throughout, as Djokovic broke Tsitsipas serve twice on the way to a 25-12 set win. The second set went to a tiebreak, with Djokovic taking a 2-0 lead and holding him until the tiebreak. From there, Tsitsipas held serve to love on his way to a 3-1 victory that saw him earn his first-ever ATP Tour win at a Grand Slam event.
“I knew that I had to play my game and to be really aggressive in the first set, but I didn’t want to take my eye off the main event, so I played just that way. I played a good first set, but I didn’t take the chance of getting back in the game in the second. He played some very good tennis for about 20-25 minutes in the second set. But he broke my serve three times in one game and I had to hold. Because I couldn’t break his serve, he closed out the match. But I had to play my game. It was a very good effort,” Djokovic said after the match.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic will resume his 2016 season with a title on Monday, when he hosts the Australian Open. We caught up with the world No. 1 after his match in Astana to talk about the conditions, how he felt, and what came next.
Q: What conditions did you feel the best in, the best courts, in the tournament?
A: The third round was the best because we had some good courts. We had an interesting final, where I had to play on a surface that I had never played before. I lost in qualifying, so I was really happy to win the first match. I didn’t play