Djokovic Continues ATP Dominance With Monte Carlo Title

April 20, 2015 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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Photo credit: Calvin Rhoden

World number one Novak Djokovic won his third consecutive ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament on Sunday, beating Czech Tomas Berdych 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 to win the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters Championship. With the victory, Djokovic becomes the first player ever to win the first three Masters 1000 tournaments in a season.

“The fact that now I won three Masters 1000 in a row and nobody ever has done that, of course I’m aware of that,” said Djokovic. “That has given me more motivation. I’m very proud of what I have achieved. It can only serve as an incentive, imperative for what’s coming up.”

After notching the second break of the set to take a 5-3 advantage in the first set, Djokovic let a slip in his service game allow Berdych back into the set. The Czech broke back and consolidated the hold to even the frame at 5-5.

The Serb quickly regained his composure and won the next two games to capture the first set. He then took a 3-2 lead in the second frame before a rain delay halted the match for an hour.

Berdych came out of the delay firing, and broke for a 4-3 advantage. He was able to serve out the rest of the set and force the match into a deciding third set.

Like he does so often though, Djokovic immediately snatched momentum back. He surged to a 4-0 lead in the third set, eventually closing it out 6-3 to win the title.

“I won this match with my heart and with battle,” said Djokovic. “That’s how I feel like I won it. I don’t think I played at the level that I wish to play and that I have played throughout the whole week. But also credit to Tomas because he played very aggressively.”

Berdych’s unforced errors to start the third set opened the door for Djokovic to pull away in the end.

“I left him a big gap in the third set,” said Berdych. “That was the decider, definitely. It was really just about a couple of points that didn’t go my way. He defended them very well … I was making him run all the way through those three sets. There was just a couple of things that didn’t go as I would like to.”


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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