There are now 19 consecutive victories that Novak Djokovic has accumulated on the circuit. The Serbian has not known defeat since the Wimbledon final against Carlos Alcaraz. And he has developed an aura of invincibility that, no matter how much Holger Rune (7-6 (4), 6-7 (1) and 6-3) insists on calling into question, causes him to emerge with the victory under the arm every time he steps on a tennis court.
The Norwegian feels a different spark in his racket when he faces the number one. Despite having lost nine of ten matches played between August and the end of October, Rune gains momentum when he faces Djokovic and took him to three sets in Paris-Bercy in his first match in Turin. He became the disciple of Boris Becker, who once also trained the Serbian, but once again left a mark on the Belgrade player, who once again needed his best level to win and to secure number one at the end of the year.
He has already achieved it eight times, two more than Pete Sampras, and he only needed a victory in Turin to avoid Carlos Alcaraz, who was destined for the title undefeated and waiting for a disaster from Djokovic to return to the first place on the podium. end of season.
It took more than three hours of play and a couple of broken rackets along the way, with the consequent boos from the Italian public, which led Djokovic to another positive fray in the ATP Finals, a tournament that he seeks to win for the seventh time to remain alone. at the top of the most successful of this event.
Rune, the last to qualify for the Masters Cup, had the privilege of going with a break lead in the first two sets and, after giving up the first in a very poor tie break, he took the second tiebreaker taking advantage of a chain of Serbian errors.
Despite the degree of desperation that invaded Djokovic after losing serve in the third set, the breaking of two rackets and the boos of the public woke him up and he cut off Rune’s path, which was left empty of gasoline.
Sinner supera a Tsitsipas
This victory followed Jannik Sinner’s victory in his local tournament, against the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (6-4 and 6-4), who overcame his physical problems and was able to take to the court. The Italian needed less than an hour and a half to achieve his third victory against Tsitsipas and lead this group. Sinner and Djokovic will face each other on Tuesday, while Tsitsipas will face Rune.
Today Carlos Alcaraz will make his debut (not before 2:30 p.m.) against the German Alexander Zverev. It will be the seventh confrontation between the German and the Spaniard, with the head-to-head tied (3-3), but with the two matches played this year in the Alcaraz pocket. In the night duel, Daniil Medvedev will face Andrey Rublev.