His opponents will have to prepare well. Unbeaten in 2020, Novak Djokovic is ready for the US Open. The world No. 1 won the Masters 1000 from Cincinnati on Saturday for the second time, relocated to New York due to the coronavirus, beating the Canadian Milos Raonic 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final.
What a list 😍
✅ Record-tying 35 Masters 1000 titles
✅ Second Golden Masters
✅ 26th straight win
✅ 80th career title
✅ 23-0 in 2020 # CInCyTENNIS | @DjokerNole pic.twitter.com/YCzGyUSkc8
The Serbian, more than ever the favorite of the second round of the grand slam of the season, which begins Monday at Flushing Meadows, joins Rafael Nadal as the record holder for the number of Masters 1000 victories, with 35 titles. And he is the first to have won at least twice each of the nine tournaments in this category. Something to delight him, but not to the point of being full. His primary objective, after six months without tennis, coronavirus obliges, will obviously be to win an 18th grand slam title at the US Open, where he has already won three times, to get closer to Nadal (19) and Roger Federer (20) both forfeited the event.
Raonic was not unworthy
The planets therefore seem to be aligned for “Nole”. He concluded his week of preparation on concrete perfectly by making the logic respect Raonic. The 30th in the world has never beaten him, in 11 confrontations. “Novak does Novak. He returns a few more balls each time and makes things a little more difficult, ”said the Canadian, somewhat resigned after not being unworthy.
With his overpowered and very precise serve, Raonic was quick to remove the first round in half an hour, also taking advantage of many unforced errors (4 double faults) from his opponent, clearly not in the game. Then resurfaced the images of the day before, those of a "Djoko" who was not on his plate when he concluded his half against the Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, complaining of the stomach after having had to intervene the physiotherapist to have his neck manipulated in the middle of the second set. However, he did not seem physically borrowed in this final, despite the three trying hours the day before.
Rabbit ... out of 🎩 @ milosraonic outfoxes Djokovic with world-class net play 👏 # CInCyTENNIS pic.twitter.com/xMMKI5fOX3
- Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 29, 2020Djokovic was able to pull himself together
He just had to get into his match. What he did by taking the service from Raonic, on his first break point at 4-2, and pushing him to a third set in which the Canadian reacted well from the start, breaking to lead 2-0 . But his hopes of finally defeating the "Djoker" for the first time quickly faded. The latter immediately recovered, first by sharp returns of service, then by imposing longer rallies on Raonic, to line up four games in a row (4-2).
After clearing a 5-4 break point thanks to a huge defense punctuated by a new angry cry, the Serbian closed the deal to win his 23rd consecutive game this season and pocket the 80th title of his career.
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- US Open
- Novak Djokovic
- Cincinnati
- Masters 1000
- Sport
- Tennis