SHANGHAI: World number one Jannik Sinner defeated 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic 7-6 (7\/4), 6-3 on Sunday to win the Shanghai Masters.<\/p>\n
Sinner took a crucial break in the fourth game of the second set to defeat the Serb in 1hr 37min and deny him a 100th career singles title.
\n\u201cHe was just too good today, too strong, too fast,\u201d Djokovic said after the match.
\nSinner said it was a \u201cvery special day,\u201d saluting his opponent as a \u201clegend\u201d who kept playing \u201cincredible tennis… year after year.\u201d
\nIn a nod to former Djokovic rival Roger Federer, who was watching from the stands, the 23-year-old joked: \u201cThere are legends everywhere, I just try to keep up a little bit.\u201d
\nFacing off before an impassioned crowd, neither player blinked in the first set, unable to break the other\u2019s serve.
\nSinner quickly took control in the tiebreak, breaking Djokovic\u2019s serve on the first point and going 5-1 up.
\nThe Serb steadied himself but then netted a volley to bring up set point at 6-3.
\nSinner failed to convert initially but didn\u2019t miss the second time behind serve.
\nThe next key moment came in the fourth game of the second set when Sinner was up 40-15 on Djokovic\u2019s serve.
\nDjokovic saved one break point with a fiery ace but couldn\u2019t stop a superb forehand down the line from Sinner that saw him pull ahead.
\nAll that remained was for the Italian to hold his nerve, hitting an ace to finish the match and claim the title.
\nSinner\u2019s victory is the latest triumph in a formidable season, in which he has won two Grand Slams and retained the top spot in the rankings since June.
\nBut it is also a year that has seen him embroiled in controversy after he twice tested positive for a banned steroid in March.
\nIn August, the International Tennis Integrity Agency accepted Sinner\u2019s explanation that the drug entered his system unintentionally when his physiotherapist used a spray containing it to treat a cut, then provided massage and sports therapy to the player.
\nHowever, the World Anti-Doping Agency said last month it would appeal against the decision to clear him of wrongdoing and was seeking a ban of up to two years.
\nThat news came as Sinner was contesting the China Open, where he lost in the final to Spain\u2019s Carlos Alcaraz, who was also watching from the stands on Sunday.
\n\u201cThis year has been very, very tough for me… At points I lost a little bit of smile,\u201d Sinner said on Sunday.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s never easy to play in these kind of circumstances,\u201d he added.
\n\u201cI feel like I\u2019m strong when I go on the court trying to not think about it… When I wake up I try to focus on every single (match or practice) I do, but then of course I have moments when I think about it which is not comfortable.\u201d
\nDjokovic said Sinner played \u201cthe big points better\u201d and \u201cdeserved to win.\u201d
\nThe 37-year-old said that getting a 100th title was \u201cnot a live-or-die type of goal,\u201d but he would keep trying.
\nDjokovic became the last man standing from tennis\u2019 golden era after Rafael Nadal announced his retirement this week and said that, despite the loss, he was pleased with his performance in Shanghai.
\n\u201cI played pretty good, which gives me, I guess, a reason to believe that I can still play with these guys that are the best in the world at this level,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cAs long as that\u2019s the case, I guess I\u2019ll still feel the need to keep on competing and the motivation to be out there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SHANGHAI: World number one Jannik Sinner defeated 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic 7-6 (7\/4), 6-3 on Sunday to win the Shanghai Masters. Sinner took a crucial break in the fourth game of the second set to defeat the Serb in 1hr 37min and deny him a 100th career singles title. \u201cHe was just too …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":71585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71567"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71589,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71567\/revisions\/71589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}