After a daunting final, Serbian Novak Djokovic managed to overthrow world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz in three sets, 5-7, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-4), to win the Cincinnati Masters 1000 on Sunday.
It took five match points and 3:49 of play for N.2 to take revenge against the Spaniard who stole the throne from him five weeks ago in the final at Wimbledon. Djokovic, 36, had not entered any tournament since this defeat.
This is the third coronation in Cincinnati for “Nole”, snatched after a real marathon. An epic endurance test that the public was afraid to see cut short, the Serb having had to call the physio at the start of the second round, just after losing the first.
But the man with 23 Grand Slam titles hung on, even coming back from a deficit of two games to pick up at 4-4 in this second set, in the trade, pushing his opponent to make a mistake as he knows how to do it so well. .
From the top of his 38 Masters 1000, Djoko then passed in front at 5-4, putting his opponent under pressure, before an unbreathable first tie-break. Alcaraz then offered a match point, saved by Djokovic. In the aftermath, the N.2 got a set point at the net, which he failed to convert. The second was the good one, at the end of a tense decisive game which foreshadowed the continuation of this titanic shock.
Because the name of the winner was decided by a final tie-break, after Alcaraz saved four match points in a suffocating tenth game lasting nearly 13 minutes.
The Murcia native defended, taking advantage of his opponent’s feverishness on serve, until a long lob from the baseline prompted Djokovic to send his spike out, putting the two men level at 5-5.
It was the Spaniard, also struggling on his serve, who narrowly regained the lead, to take the lead 6-5. But the Serb followed suit to force a final tie-break. Decisive game that Carlos Alcaraz started with a double fault signaled for a millimeter. At that time, Djokovic chained his seventh point in a row, at 3-0.
The Spaniard then offered himself a final comeback, equalizing at 3-3, without ever being able to get past his opponent. The fifth tournament ball was good for Novak Djokovic, after a Homeric final between the two best players in the world.
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