BEVERLY HILLS, February 02, (THEWILL) – Tennis world number one Novak Djokovic got back to his winning ways to open his 2021 season on the Rod Laver Arena, on Tuesday. In his first match of the ATP Cup, the Serb battled to victory over Denis Shapovalov in two tough 7-5 7-5 sets.
There was very little to separate the two top players throughout both sets. And, though Djokovic brought up a pair of break points in Shapovalov’s second service game of the match, the pair stayed on serve for the first 11 games. It was only when Djokovic shifted gears and broke for the first time that the top-ranked player was able to gain a one-set lead against the Canadian.
It was a similar outcome in the second set when Djokovic missed an early break chance in the 22-year-old’s first service game, and the two stayed on serve until the Serb finally broke again in the last game of the match. The 33-year-old rifled a forehand passing shot up the line to close it out after an hour and 53 minutes in all.
The win gave Djokovic an improved head-to-head record against Shapovalov, as he notched up their contests to a dominating 6-0.
After the tight match, Djokovic remarked on how much he enjoyed their contests in the on-court interview: “It’s a great opening of the season. I hope all of you that came today enjoyed it, because I certainly did.
“It was a very close match. Playing Shapo is always a great challenge. On hard courts he’s such a dynamic, explosive player and very talented. He has a great future ahead of him, that’s for sure. And I thought we both played on a really high level today.
“I’m very pleased with how I started this season.”
The number one has a running record of 21 consecutive match victories in Australia, which includes 7-0 to win the 2019 Australian Open, 6-0 at the 2020 ATP Cup, 7-0 to win the 2020 Australian Open and 1-0 so far this week; as an indication of his total domination Down Under.
What makes this consecutive streak thoroughly intimidating is the remarkable fact that more than half of those wins, 11 of 21 to be precise, have come against players in the Association of Tennis Professional’s Top 20.
With Djokovic’s win, Serbia’s round-robin tie against Canada was tied to 1-1 after Milos Raonic beat Dusan Lajovic 6-3 6-4 earlier in the day, in a battle between the second ranked players of their respective countries.
Doubles duty had Djokovic taking to the court again for the deciding match. He partnered with Filip Krajinovic to help Serbia chalk up a 2-1 victory as they claimed Serbia’s win against Shapovalov and Raonic, 7-5, 7-6 (4).
In the other round-robin tie, Austria and Italy squared off to a rollercoaster that it came down to a deciding doubles match, after the two singles matches ended in upsets. In the first, the 100th-ranked Dennis Novak surprised world number 17 Fabio Fognini to a 6-3, 6-2 win and then world number 10 Matteo Berrettini played a 6-2, 6-4 match to take out number three Dominic Thiem.
But, Italy took it in the doubles, squeaking out the tie with Berrettini and Fognini beating Novak and Thiem, 6-1, 6-4 for the win.
On ranking terms alone, Berrettini’s singles win over Thiem was also the biggest win of his career and he was loving every bit of it. Before this, his best wins were three victories over world number fives, two of which came in 2019, also against Thiem.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
