ATP World Tour Finals 2019: Novak Djokovic Destroys Matteo Berrettini in Opener in 63 Minutes

Published 11/10/2019, 10:18 AM EST

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World No.2 Novak Djokovic cruises past Matteo Berrettini in the first round-robin match of the Bjorn Borg group, defeating him in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 at the ATP World Tour Finals 2019 on Sunday.

Set one

The five-time champion kicked off with a perfect service game to love as he demonstrated that the serve will play a crucial part in the game. While Matteo Berrettini struggled to hold his serve as the world No.2 found the first breakthrough in the sixth game to get a 4-2 lead.

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Novak Djokovic wasted no time in taking control of the first set, holding his service games without facing a breakpoint and breaking twice to claim the opening set in just half an hour.

The Serbian did not lose a single point on his second serve, whereas Berrettini could only win 33 percent of his second serve points. The Italian hit 17 unforced errors in that set, compared to Djokovic’s three.

Set two

In a replication of the first set, Novak Djokovic started the second set with a hold of serve to love. The 33-year-old earned an early break in the next game to take full control of the match.

Point of the match!!!

The 16-time Grand Slam champion was at his brilliant best as he dismantled Berrettini’s serve for the fourth time in the match to get a 4-0 lead and win his 9th consecutive game.

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Matteo Berrettini fought back hard to break Djokovic for the first time in the match in the next game. The match then headed towards the conclusion swiftly after breaking the 23-year-old for the fifth time and serving out the match, winning the set 6-1.

“I have been enjoying the conditions on this court for many many years. I have been fortunate to play this tournament for 10 straight years,” Novak Djokovic said in the on-court interview.

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Written by:

Varun Khanna

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Starting off as a tennis author in 2018, Varun Khanna has gone on to contribute to EssentiallySports in various capacities. After setting up interviews with the likes of Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou, Alizé Cornet, and Noah Rubin, Varun is now part of all major ATP and WTA press conferences and has gone on to pen more than 1300 articles for EssentiallySports. He now heads the tennis and NBA division of the organization.
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