There was no stopping Novak Djokovic who added another feather to his cap with his straight-set demolition of Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final of the ATP Dubai on Saturday. This was his fifth title at Dubai.
Djokovic, who had come into the match on the back of a 17-match winning streak on the ATP circuit, looked to be in complete control of the match for most part of the encounter. He won 6-3, 6-4 to lift his third title of the season following a victory at the ATP Cup for Serbia and the Australian Open.
Tstsipas will have to remain content with a solid showing all week culminating into a runner-up trophy after his eight-match winning streak which had seen him lift the Marseille Open title, ended in this final.
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Things went on serve in the first set till the seventh game but Djokovic was tested in both his first two games, even facing a break-point in the fourth. However, he clawed back to his best and availed of the first opportunity he got to break Tsitsipas in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead.
And then he had no worries serving it out in the ninth game to lead by a set.
The second set looked to be going to script for the now-resurgent Djokovic, who broke Tsitsipas again off the first opportunity he got in the fifth game. This time around though, the Greek second seed retaliated with a break of his own to level it at 3-3 and they held serves in the next two games.
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Djokovic then got another chance to forge ahead on Tsitsipas serve’s and again, wasted no time breaking him before completing the final rites with a hold to love.
The top two seeds in the competition, Djokovic and Tsitsipas had taken similar routes to the final in this ATP 500 event. Djokovic made it to the final on the back of three straightforward wins against Malek Jaziri, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Karen Khachanov before needing to save multiple match-points against Gael Monfils in the semifinal.
Tsitsipas had it easy for three of his four matches before the final too but Jan-Lennard Struff had pushed him into a three-setter as well.
Now, both players will look to fine-tune their preparations for the Indian Wells Masters which will begin in about 10 days time.
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