Unstoppable Novak Djokovic captures Mutua Madrid Open crown
World number two, Serb Novak Djokovic grabbed his 34th straight win as he prevailed over defending champion and world number one Rafael Nadal in straight sets 7-5, 6-4 in the title match of Mutua Madrid Open at the La
Caja Mágica in Madrid on Sunday. Djokovic needed two hours and 17 minutes to beat his opponent in a tough contest.
The Serbian ended Nadal’s 37 match winning streak on clay. Djokovic has not lost a match after he was defeated by Roger Federer in the semi-finals of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in November last year. The right handed has
won all of the 32 matches he has played this year. This is the sixth consecutive title for the Serbian, winning them previously at the Australian Open, Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship, BNP Paribas Open, Sony Ericsson Open and Serbia Open.
Talking about his winning streak, Djokovic said, “I know that this run that I have is really incredible but I try to think about how long it’ll go and when I will be beaten. It’s how many more wins I’m going to have. Every time
I go on the court I’m motivated to win and not thinking that this is the day I’ll lose.”
Djokovic played attacking game from the beginning of the match, breaking Nadal in the second and fourth game to race to a 4-0 lead. Nadal responded swiftly as he broke Djokovic in the fifth game and held his serve in the next game
to reduce his opponent’s lead to 4-2. Serving for the set at 5-4, Djokovic was broken again as Nadal hit a forehand winner and levelled the score at 5-5. However, the Serbian was in no mood to allow Nadal to take the lead as he grabbed eight consecutive points,
winning two successive games and claiming the opening set 7-5.
Djokovic fired two aces and 58 percent of the first serves, capturing 67 percent of the points on them in the opening set. The Serbian converted three of the seven break points he received in the first set.
After losing a hard fought first set, Nadal came back strong as he broke Djokovic in the opening game of the second set. However, the Serbian hit a down the line backhand winner to break back in the next game. Both players held
their serve in the next seven games, taking the score to 5-4 in favour of Djokovic. Serving to stay in the match at 4-5, Nadal hit a backhand slice outside the court, losing the set 4-6.
Djokovic said, commenting on the match, “Under the circumstances, I’ve played probably the best match of my life on clay against the World No. 1 and the player to beat on this surface. The way I played was just fantastic. I’m definitely
satisfied with the performance and the overall tournament.”
This is Djokovic’s third straight win over the reigning world number 1 this year. The Serbian defeated Nadal in the finals of BNP Paribas Open and Sony Ericsson Open earlier.
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