Novak sidelines Ferrer, defends China Open title
World Number 2 Novak “Noel” Djokovic has once again proven his mettle at the 2010 China Open in Beijing, be defeating Spaniard David Ferrer to defend his 2009 title. This is Noel’s second championship of the year, before this week’s ATP Masters to be held
at Shanghai. The 23 year old professional tennis player from Serbia managed to upset his Spanish opponent in two sets, 6-2 and 6-4. The match was rained out on Sunday, and postponed to Monday.
Novak Djokovic, first seed at the hard surface tournament, defeated players such as Mao-Xin Gong, Mardy Fish, Gilles Simon and John Isner to reach his victory against eighth seed Ferrer. David Ferrer himself defeated Denis Istomin, Yen-Hsun Lu, third seed
Robin Soderling and Ivan Ljubicic before he was downed in the final.
The World Number 2 player managed to glide through the first set of the match, easily earning a 6-2 victory. However, the second set proved a slightly bigger challenge, resulting in Djokovic falling behind 4-2 as he seemed to tire slightly. At 4-3, Ferrer
did his best to hold serve and keep his leading score; but Djokovic was merciless, breaking his game to take the set, and within the next couple of games, the entire match at a second set score of 6-4. Djokovic managed to convert four of six break points,
was broken only once himself, and finished the match in 1 hour and 24 minutes. This success ups his match score against Ferrer to five successes and four losses.
The Serbian player spoke to reporters after the match, saying, “I started off really well but then I lost the momentum I kind of lost the rhythm, got him back into the match with some unforced errors.t wasn’t a really nice looking match from both sides.”
Offering elaboration about the turning point of the match, he said, “We made a lot of unforced errors, especially him. He made my life a little bit easier at the end of the second set, where, with his unforced errors, I got back into the set.”
There are several factors which tie in for Djokovic’s recent success, which ranges from his overall improved performance at ATP tournaments since July to his position as the finalist against Rafael Nadal at the 2010 US Open tournament. He himself credits
this to his serve, which he has worked upon since Wimbledon. The tennis pro says of his performance, “I'm definitely satisfied with my consistency on the tour.” This statement is backed up by his semi final opponent at the China Open, John Isner, who says,
“He's playing really well and he's really confident.... I felt like he was on top of his game.”
However, Noel is also used to an extraordinary amount of luck in China, where he captured the Olympic bronze medal in 2008, with this latest success at the China Open. The surface seems to agree with him, and he himself says, “There’s something special about
this place.” He is scheduled to play either Ivan Ljubicic or Zhang Ze at the ATP Masters event in Shanghai, on Wednesday.
When asked whether his recent success would have an effect on his level of play at Shanghai, Noel said, “This is definitely a confidence boost for me. The last two, three months … feeling much more comfortable and confident on the court, playing the aggressive
game and service is working for me which is a great thing to have.” He concluded his statement, saying, “Let’s see if I can keep it up. Energy-wise I’m fresh.”
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