Djokovic wins a record fourth Shanghai Masters title
Yastremska blitzes Wang to claim first title in Hong Kong; Garcia wins Tianjin crown
Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine poses with the champion’s trophy
in Hong Kong, on Oct 14. (AFP)
SHANGHAI, Oct 14, (Agencies): Novak Djokovic won a record fourth Shanghai Masters title with a 6-3, 6-4 win over 13th-seeded Borna Coric on Sunday.
The second-seeded Djokovic has won all four Shanghai finals he’s contested in his career (2012, 2013, 2015 and 2018). He previously shared the record of winning three Shanghai titles with Andy Murray.
Djokovic holds an 11-0 overall record in finals played in China, where he also won the Beijing tournament six times and the 2008 year-end Tennis Masters Cup held in Shanghai.
“Maybe I was Chinese in the past life,” said Djokovic, smiling, in explaining impressive record in the country. “I wouldn’t be surprised, to be honest, with the way I feel here and the way I communicate and have relationship with the people.
“It’s all very, very positive, for more than ten years that I have been coming to China. There is something special about this place that makes me feel like at home.”
Djokovic dominated opponents behind his powerful serve, winning all 47 of his service games during the tournament.
“Well, to be honest, I’m not sure whether it has happened ever, you know, that I go through a tournament without dropping one service game,” Djokovic said. “I’m sure that it hasn’t happened too many times if it did. So this was definitely one of the best service weeks that I had in my career.
“But for me serve was always, so to say, a hidden weapon, the shot in the game that is obviously very important, “the” most important. But I always try to use it with an accuracy and efficiency rather than speed and power.”
The Serb offered 13th-seeded Coric one break point in the match, in the sixth game of the second set. Coric,