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Novak Djokovic broke even more records after winning for the fifth time at the second most important tournament of the year so far, beating Milos Raonic in the final 6-2 6-0.
The Serbian proved the dominant force of tennis again, after a shaky start. Djokovic would still be well clear as World Number One, even without his three grand slam victories and one runner up at Roland Garros. He overcome a difficult Bjorn Frantengelo test in the second round and it was the first time in six years that Djokovic had dropped a set to a player outside the top 100, but he eventually won, 2-6 6-1 6-2. He then went on to beat Philipp Kohlschreiber, Feliciano Lopez, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to make the semi-final, winning all matches in straight sets, and crucially, a resolute Tsonga in two tiebreaks in the quarter finals.
Djokovic then went on to face a sterner test, against Rafael Nadal in the semis. The Spaniard, nicknamed “El Toro”, despite losing, will be pleased with his overall performance in the tournament, conquering Fernando Verdasco, who beat him at the Australian Open in January.
In the other half of the draw, it was Raonic who came out on top, but it was yet another tournament to forget for Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka. They lost in three sets to Federico Delbonis and David Goffin respectively. Delbonis has now broken back into the top 50, while Goffin reaches 15th.
This opened up the rest of the draw, and Goffin took it in his stride, emerging victorious over Cilic to reach the semi finals, where he was beaten in a thrilling match 6-3 3-6 6-3, by the big serving Canadian. Nevertheless, Goffin can be happy with his tournament and will hope to carry these kind of results into the grand slams.
Raonic will be delighted with his form this year, making the final after good wins against Tomas Berdych, Gael Monfils and Goffin, and the fianl was only his second loss of 2016. The tournament will see him climb to 12th in the rankings, and he could be a dark horse in the grand slams this year.
Elsewhere it was a great tournament for a couple of next generation stars and none more so than 18 year old Alexander Zverev, who beat two seeded players to reach the 4th round of the tournament. The German beat Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 3-6 7-5 to advance to the next round, to face Gilles Simon, where Zverev comfortably won, 6-2 6-2. The German, who has Russian parents but born in Hamburg, played admirably against his 4th Round opponent Rafa Nadal, but ultimately lost, 7-6 0-6 5-7. His performances will see the youngster rise to 52 in the rankings, up 6 plalces, a career high, so far anyway.
It was a landmark tournament for Frances Tiafoe, who picked up his second win on the tour, beating fellow young American prospect, Taylor Fritz, 6-3 2-6 6-3, before losing to David Goffin. The 18 year old, who only turned pro 11 months ago, will hope he can carry his momentum into Miami next week, after announcing himself to the World at Indian Wells this week, and will have a new career high ranking of 167, up 10 places.
The mover of the week again though, was Juan Martin Del Potro, who everyone is delighted to have back on the tour, after 3 on and off seasons with injury. The Argentinian rose 54 places to number 366, and will hope to continue to rise throughout the year.
The conclusion of the BNP Paribas Open sees Djokovic cement his place even further at the top, but with another ATP Masters 1000 next week in Miami, and the return from injury of Roger Federer, can anyone topple the Serb?
