The Joker’s all smiles
Serbian confident ahead of Wimbledon with Eastbourne win
EASTBOURNE ( England): Novak Djokovic won his second title of 2017 as he cruised to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Gael Monfils in the Aegon International final.
The Serb, also known as the Joker, remained unbeaten against Monfils on the ATP tour as he extended his head-to-head advantage over the Frenchman to 14-0 in one hour and 16 minutes.
Having ended a trophy-drought stretching back to the Qatar Open in January, Djokovic will begin his Wimbledon campaign on Tuesday full of confidence.
Earlier yesterday, third-seeded Karolina Pliskova beat Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-4, 6-4 to win the women’s event on England’s south coast.
Monfils’ attempt to end his losing streak against the world No. 4 was quickly blunted as he dropped serve in the opening game, before being broken again in the final game of the first set.
Despite his renowned retrieval skills, Monfils was unable to impose his return game as Djokovic made 87% of his first serves during the opening set.
Monfils emerged with renewed intent for the second set, but Djokovic was able to summon the grit that has so often been lacking this season as he fought off three break points.
Equally familiar was the sight of Djokovic increasing his intensity as Monfils served to stay in the match at 4-5, taking victory at the first opportunity.
Karolina Pliskova gave herself the perfect pre-Wimbledon tonic by lifting the Aegon International title, defeating Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-4 in impressive style.
The Czech world No. 3 demonstrated once again just why, with her big serves and crushing groundstrokes, she could be the one to beat at Wimbledon over the next fortnight as she annexed her third title of the season.
Denmark’s Wozniacki, the world No. 6 who had hoped to regain the title she last won in 2009, held on in game fashion but succumbed to a break of serve in each set and, despite a second set push, could not dent Pliskova’s formidable delivery.
“This feels better,” said the 25- year- old Pliskova on court afterwards, comparing her feeling to the defeat in the same final last year.
Reminded that Jana Novotna had been the last Czech woman to win at Eastbourne before going to triumph at Wimbledon in the same year, she added: “My service is definitely my biggest weapon and if it’s working it causes the other player a lot of problems.
“I’m going to go step-by-step and hopefully I can go far at Wimbledon.”
Pliskova took command with a break for 3-2 in the first set and dropped only five points on serve as she took the stanza in 34 minutes.
In the middle of the second set, Pliskova finally faced an examination on serve, having to save four break points in one game and two in the next, but saved them all with a combi- nation of fine serving and Wozniacki’s profligacy.
Pliskova sent down 10 aces as she wrapped up victory in one hour 22 minutes and it is hard to imagine she will not improve on her best previous Wimbledon performances, second round dates in each of the last four years.
For Wozniacki, it was a disappointing fourth defeat in four finals this season but she was still able to smile: ”I would have loved to have won today but maybe fifth time is the charm as they say.
“I thought I played really well, but Karolina played better than me, definitely with the serves. I had trouble getting them back.” – Agencies