ATP Rome: Novak Djokovic beats Diego Schwartzman and wins the 36th ATP Masters 1000 title
Novak Djokovic won his 36th ATP Masters 1000 title at the tournament in Rome. The Serb beat Diego Schwartzman in the final 7: 5 and 6: 3.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Sep 21, 2020, 07:11 pm
Schwartzman got off to a dream start in his first ATP Masters 1000 final and took Djokovic 's first two service games. After the fast 3-0 deficit, the Serb replied in the style of a champion, also broke twice and subsequently took the lead 4-3.
Schwartzman was able to stop the run of the 17-time Grand Slam winner in the next game and then found a breakball at 4: 4. The Argentine did not know how to use this, Djokovic managed his service game and took a set ball in the tenth game of the first set. Schwartzman still fended off this, but two games later the 28-year-old could not break free: Djokovic won the highly competitive first round after around 70 minutes of play with 7: 5.
Djokovic takes the lead in the all-time leaderboard
However, the world number one was unable to really take the momentum from the first section with him. Schwartzman managed a break to make it 1-0, but had to give up his serve again immediately and left out two opportunities to take the lead when the score was 2-2.
That should take revenge: Djokovic took Schwartzman's serve to 5: 3 and then served safely to 7: 5 and 6: 3 success. With his fifth tournament victory in Rome, the 33-year-old also placed himself at the top of the eternal list of the best in terms of ATP Masters 1000 titles: The Serb now leads with 36 titles ahead of Rafael Nadal (35).
"It was a great week. I didn't play my best tennis, but I found it in the important moments. That makes me very happy," said Djokovic after the match.