Djokovic Wins ATP Finals Opener
The Nitto ATP finals continued on Monday as the world’s top ranked player Novak Djokovic took on Argentine Diego Schwartzman. Djokovic kicked off his campaign with a resounding 6-3, 6-2 win over Schwartzman, marking the 12th straight time that he has won his opening round-robin match at the end-of-year championships.
“The beginning of the match wasn’t that great for me. He broke my serve in the third game and I managed to break [back],” said Djokovic. “It was a close encounter until I broke his serveat 4-3 and managed to close out the first set. In the second set, I started swinging through the ball a little more with a bit less hesitation from both corners. I was very pleased with the way I played, especially in the second set.”
Prior to Djokovic’s victory, Marcel Granollers and Hector Zeballos won 7-6(2), 7-5 against John Peers and Michael Venus.
On Sunday, U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem opened up singles play in the finals with a 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 over Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, while Rafael Nadal of Spain defeated Russian Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-4.
In doubles play, Wesley Koolhoff and Nikola Mektic defeated Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies 6-7(3), 7-6(4), 10-7, and Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury won 7-5, 3-6, 10-5 over Lukasz Kabot and Marcelo Melo.
