Djokovic, Bertens Win Madrid Titles

May 13, 2019 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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Photo Credit: USTA/Darren Carroll

 

It was a thrilling fortnight of tennis in central Spain as some of the best tennis players in the world competed in the Mutua Madrid Open, and in the end, Novak Djokovic and Kiki Bertens won the men’s singles and women’s singles titles, respectively.

Djokovic outplayed young Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday to win the 33rd ATP Masters 1000 title of his career, bringing him into a tie with Rafael Nadal for most all-time.

“These are the best tournaments, the biggest tournaments we have in our sport, in the ATP, of course alongside the Grand Slams,” said Djokovic. “This is as important and as good as it gets.”

“I’m very pleased,” he added. “I was saying after yesterday’s semifinal win that it was a very, very important win for me for my confidence. I wasn’t playing my best tennis after Australia so I was looking to regain the momentum this week. I started off well. I didn’t drop a set the entire tournament, so I’m very pleased. I played some of my best tennis here.”

Djokovic was too dominant for Tsitsipas on Sunday as he never faced a break point in the one hour and 33 minute match, and bolstered his lead as the top-ranked player in the world.

“He deserved the victory, he played unbelievable,” said Tsitsipas. “I couldn’t do much.”

On the women’s side, Bertens became the first woman to win in Madrid without dropping a set in the tournament, capping off her fantastic run with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Simona Halep on Saturday.

 “I’m just really happy,” said Bertens. “I think after every title you feel something, of course. Sometimes it’s a lot of emotions. Sometimes it is really happiness. Sometimes it’s just like not believing. But right now, I don’t know yet how I feel. I just feel really happy.”

Bertens fell behind 1-3 to Halep in the final, but would recover to earn the break back, and soon after broke for the 5-4 advantage. After capturing the first set, Bertens would trade breaks again with Halep in the second set, but was once again just a bit better than her Romanian counterpart, and closed out her win in straight sets.

“I think I played very solid today,” said Bertens. “I think at the beginning, I was a little bit searching for my game still but I think the rest of the match I played really solid, really smart and I was just going for my shots.”

As a result of her win, the Dutch player jumps up to the fourth spot in the world rankings.

 


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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