Turin: Novak Djokovic beat Stefanos Tsitsipas for the ninth straight time 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) in the players’ opening match at the ATP Finals late Monday night here. Novak Djokovic has beaten Tsitsipas in his third straight tournament following wins in Astana, Kazakhstan and at the Paris Masters. “All the matches we’ve played have been decided by two or three points and that was again the case tonight,” Djokovic said after the match.
Djokovic broke Tsitsipas in the opening game and held from there to close out the first set. “A break in these conditions is decisive,” Djokovic said of the fast indoor court. A cross-court backhand passing shot which landed on the line helped Djokovic gain advantage in the second set tie-breaker.
Tsitsipas won two of his first three career matches against Djokovic but hasn’t beaten the 21-time Grand Slam winner in more than three years.
Earlier, Andrey Rublev won a 37-shot rally on his fifth match point to seal a 6-7 (7-9), 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) win over fellow Russian Daniil Medvedev in the other Red Group match. Following his win, Rublev wrote “Peace, Peace, Peace, All we need,” on a TV camera lens in an apparent reference to the war in Ukraine.
Rublev and Medvedev – along with all Russian and Belarus tennis players – have been competing without their flag or country next to their names as part of widespread sports sanctions due to Russia’s war with Ukraine.
Rublev made a similar appeal in February, writing “No war please” on a TV camera lens shortly after Russia’s invasion. His latest appeal comes following Russia’s withdrawal from the Ukrainian city of Kherson, one of Ukraine’s biggest successes in the nearly nine-month war.