Novak Djokovic beats world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in Cincinnati final

The winner of the Western & Southern Open, the Masters 1000 tournament of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) with a prize fund of $6.6 million, was Novak Djokovic, who, in an amazingly beautiful final that lasted almost four hours, outplayed world number one Carlos Alcaraz. Thanks to this triumph, the 36-year-old Serbian almost guaranteed himself a return to first place following the results of the US Open starting next Monday. In order to get ahead of the Spaniard, it will be enough for him to win only one match there.

To the next meeting between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaras, which became their first match after defeat Serb in the dramatic five-set final of Wimbledon, its participants went in different ways. Alcaraz during the American series did not look the best. A week earlier, at another “master” in Toronto, he lost in the quarterfinals to the American Tommy Paul, and won all four victories on the way to the final against Djokovic in three games.

The Spaniard was in good physical condition, but he was not stable enough in the performance of technical elements. It is not surprising that not only Paul, from whom he, however, took revenge, and the Pole Hubert Hurkach, but also two Australians from the second fifty world rankings, Jordan Thompson and Max Parcell, who prefers the spectacular style of “serve – exit” managed to put up stubborn resistance. to the grid”, but it works quite uniformly.

In turn, Djokovic did not come to Toronto at all, and worked in Cincinnati on a sparing schedule. He had a chance to face problems only in the semi-final against Alexander Zverev, but the German tennis player lasted only two sets.

In total, the 36-year-old Serbian veteran played only seven games on the way to the final, five less than Alcaraz.

For the intense weekly Masters 1000 tournaments, this is a huge difference, especially when you consider that Djokovic is in excellent physical shape for his age.

Nevertheless, the first set, which lasted 62 minutes, went to Alcaraz. Having lost the pitch in the sixth game to zero, he immediately returned it, and with the score 5:5 he made another break. In the second set, Djokovic had to recoup. He was inferior 1:3 and 2:4, but caught up with the Spaniard, saved the match point in a tie-break, and then took the last two points. In the third installment, overcoming the heat, the opponents continued marathon skirmishes, which consisted of several dozen blows. Leading 5:4, Djokovic served for the match, Alcaraz pulled out that protracted game, but the decisive tie-break was left for the Serb, who won – 5:7, 7:6 (9:7), 7:6 (7:4) – in 3 hours 49 minutes. It was the longest final on the ATP Tour tournaments (since 1990), consisting of three sets.

To match the match, rich in emotions, the awards ceremony also turned out. “Man, you never give up, although sometimes I wish you played some points differently!” Djokovic smiled. “Spaniards don’t die,” Alcaraz replied, laughing. “Yes, I have already heard about this and faced something similar,” the Serbian tennis player played along with the young opponent, clearly alluding to Rafael Nadal, over whom he won 30 victories in 59 meetings over the past 16 years.

It is clear that Djokovic’s rivalry with Alcaraz is not destined to last as long. But this year it has become the main decoration of the season and, by the way, it can continue in the final of the US Open, where, apparently, the change of the leader of the world ranking cannot be avoided.

The fact is that thanks to the triumph in Cincinnati, Djokovic reduced his gap from Alcaraz to only 20 rating points. Last year, the Serb was not allowed to compete at the US Open due to his lack of an anti-coronavirus vaccination, and the Spaniard won in New York. Thus, now Alcaraz must defend 2000 points there, and in order to return to first place, Djokovic, in any case, needs to win just one match. His first opponent will be determined by the results of the draw, which will take place on Thursday.

Worthy of attention and a few more statistical points. Djokovic, for example, has a clean third in career wins (1,069), ahead of Nadal and Ivan Lendl. Only Jimmy Connors (1274) and Roger Federer (1251) remain ahead, but it will not be easy to get them. To do this, Djokovic needs to win about fifty matches over the next four years, which at his age looks problematic.

But Djokovic improved his record for the number of victories in the Masters 1000 category tournaments. Now he has 33 of them. Moreover, the Serbian excelled in Cincinnati for the third time, and now the Monte Carlo tournament remains the only “master” that he won only twice . This statistic is unique because no other tennis player in history has won all the “masters” at least once.

Evgeny Fedyakov