Novak Djokovic defeats Stefanos Tsitsipas in Astana Open final to win his 90th career ATP title
Novak Djokovic celebrates winning his 90th career Grand Slam title at the Astana Open in Astana, Kazakhstan on Thursday, July 10, 2017. (Photo: Daniel Berehulak/AFP/Getty Images)
After defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2 5-7 6-4 to win the 90th career title at the Astana Open on Thursday, Djokovic continued to set the tone for his dominance in the second half of 2016 with a dominant display in the second week of 2017.
The Serb, who won his record 17th major at the same venue last month and became the first man to win all four Grand Slam titles at one tournament, will look to extend his current tournament win total of 19 in 2017, with his eyes firmly fixed on claiming his fifth title at Wimbledon.
Tsitsipas, who has a win over Djokovic and a first round upset over Rafael Nadal to his credit, was unable to make a major impact on his opponent’s win, as the Serb held a serve throughout the match.
After Tsitsipas failed to break Djokovic’s serve early on, he only found his footing when he hit a short topspin backhand return into the net after a Djokovic error to give his opponent his first break point of the match. Djokovic broke the set with a backhand long into the net, serving at 2-1.
Djokovic looked to have turned the match around in the second set by taking the first set 6-2 before serving for the match at 4-4. However, the Serb only won the next four points before succumbing to Tsitsipas serve after serve, falling just short at 6-4.
Tsitsipas did look to extend his own lead, with his first break point of the match coming at 4-3 when he converted his first a net game against a Djokovic backhand. However, Djokovic found a second break point at 5-4, before closing the set with an ace to take the lead, 6-4. He held serve for the remaining of the set, before breaking Djokovic serve