Tennis Atlantic

Djokovic Savors His Sixth Masters Title of the Season in Paris
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

It was a three-peat in Paris for world #1 Novak Djokovic who captured his sixth Masters 1000 title, and tenth overall title of the season, with a routine 6-2 6-4 victory over Andy Murray, the current world #3. It’s been the year of Novak as he moves to 78-5 on the season with one tournament left to play (the World Tour Finals in London), and reached the final of every tournament he entered, save the ATP Doha tournament at the start of the season. Djokovic also reached eight Masters 1000 finals (6-2 record in those finals), and is the first player to accomplish that momentous feat.

Djokovic faced a pair of tough matches before the final, winning his quarterfinal over Tomas Berdych in a pair of tiebreaks, and defeating his rival Stan Wawrinka with a third set bagel after a pair of hard fought sets. The win over Berdych was the first time Djokovic had won an ATP match without breaking his opponents serve. He also notched routine wins over Thomaz Bellucci and Gilles Simon in his first two matches.

Murray posted his best ever result in the Paris Masters with a pair of crushing wins over Borna Coric and David Goffin, followed by a nip and tuck three set win over home Frenchman Richard Gasquet and a straight set victory over an outmatched David Ferrer. Murray is now 9-0 after the US Open against opponents other than Novak Djokovic. The Brit will be leading his country in the Davis Cup final against Goffin and Belgium in just a couple of weeks.

Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo stopped the World Tour Finals qualification bid of Jack Sock and Vasek Pospisil 2-6 6-3 10-5, as the veteran pairing made it three titles together on the season.

The singles players qualifying for the World Tour Finals in London are Djokovic, Murray, Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka, Rafael Nadal, Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer, and Kei Nishikori with Richard Gasquet as the first alternate in the #9 race to London spot. The youngest player is 25 (Nishikori) and four of the eight contestants are over the age of 30.

The doubles teams qualifying are Bob and Mike Bryan, Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau, Jamie Murray/John Peers, Dodig/Melo, Simone Bolelli/Fabio Fognini, Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut, Marcin Matkowski/Nenad Zimonjic and Rohan Bopanna/Florian Mergea, with Pospisil/Sock and Bruno Soares/Alexander Peya coming up just short. Only Bolelli and Fognini are top tier ATP singles players, and the rest of the contestants are best at doubles.

The World Tour Finals begin November 15th.