SHANGHAI: It proved all too easy once again for Novak Djokovic as the world number one continued his frightening dominance of men’s tennis by blitzing past Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to claim his third Shanghai Masters title on Sunday.

The Serbian 10-time Grand Slam champion brushed aside the challenge of a befuddled Tsonga 6-2, 6-4 in one hour and 18 minutes at the Qi Zhong Stadium to capture his ninth title of a standout year that has left him being spoken of among the sport’s all-time greats.

Djokovic’s serve was broken once but he broke the floundering Tsonga four times, collecting his 10th title in China on the back of a 17-match winning streak including 22 straight sets.

Tsonga came into the match leading the tournament with 64 aces, but Djokovic returned so effectively, he broke the Frenchman three times and held him to zero aces in the opening set.

Tsonga played more aggressively in the second set, but still had to fight off five break points until Djokovic was finally able to convert on his sixth when the Frenchman double-faulted while serving at 4-all before he served out the match in the next game.

It was a second straight tournament Djokovic had won without dropping a set after he landed his sixth China Open title in Beijing last week.

“I think I’ve played the best tennis ever in these two weeks in terms of back-to-back. Honestly, that’s how I felt,” said Djokovic, who was showered with golden confetti at the victory ceremony.—Agencies

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2015

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