October 14, 2013 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Photo credit: Kenneth B. Goldberg
Defending champion Novak Djokovic defeated the sixth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(3) on Sunday to win the 2013 Shanghai Rolex Masters title, his sevnth title of 2013 and his win/loss record to 62-9 on the year. Djokovic earned $729,725 in prize money and 1,000 Emirates ATP Ranking points, while del Potro picked up $357,800 and 600 points. Both players have already qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, set for Nov. 4-11 at the O2 Arena in London.
"He’s a fantastic player and a great person," said Djokovic. "He showed that again. He has a really likable personality [and] he’s a big fighter. All the way up to the last point, I didn’t know if I was going to win the match. It was a very even match. My motivation is there always, especially when I’m playing finals of such a big event."
Djokovic improved to a 39-21 record in tour-level finals, adding to his fourth China Open title last week. Last week’s Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships titlist del Potro dropped to a 16-6 mark in title matches.
"The match was really close and I think Nole played [some] unbelievable points in the tie-break," said del Potro. "The match was so exciting. At Wimbledon [in early July] we played another fantastic match against each other. It’s a really bad loss for me now. I was really close to beating him after beating [Rafael] Nadal."
