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Novak Djokovic defeated Andy Murray 6-2 3-6 6-3 at the Mutua Madrid Open, as Murray failed to defend his title, meaning the Scot drops to 3rd in the rankings, behind Roger Federer.
Murray fought valiantly to the end, but the quality from Djokovic was too much for Murray who started poorly, and ultimately, made too many unforced errors, and failed to take his chances on break points.
The wait for Murray to beat Djokovic from a set down goes on, as will the wait for someone to end Djokovic’s domination of the sport, as he breaks the record of Masters 1000 tournaments won, the number standing at 29.
The Serbian had been shaky at times, but this all looked behind him at his first tournament of the year on clay. Djokovic looked totally comfortable in the earlier rounds, defeating Borna Coric, Roberto Bautista Agut and Milos Raonic without barely braking sweat. His semi-final opponent, Kei Nishikori, provided a sterner test, and also saved four match points in the 3rd set, forcing a tie break, but in the end Djokovic defeated the world Number 6 6-3 6-7 7-6.
On the other side of the draw, it was Murray dominating proceedings, beating 2 top 10 players, in Tomas Berdych, who Murray had never previously beaten on clay, and King of clay, Rafa Nadal, for the second year in a row at the Matua Madrid Open.
Murray’s start was very dodgy, however, almost crashing out to 37-year-old qualifier, Radek Stepanek. Murray eventually had the fitness to come through and comfortably beat Gilles Simon in the next round.
The retirement from the tournament of Roger Federer left the door open for another player to make the quarter finals, and it was the Portuguese number 1, Joao Sousa that took full advantage, beating Marcel Granollers, and Jack Sock, before losing to Rafa Nadal 6-0 4-6 6-3, but Sousa will rise to 30th, up 5 places in the ATP World Rankings. It was also an impressive tournament from temperamental Australian, Nick Kyrgios, who has put a good run of form together recently, beating Stan Wawrinka 7-6 7-6. The Aussie has lost only 3 tiebreaks this year, winning an incredible 11 so far.
He rises to 20th, overtaking Bernard Tomic as the highest ranked Australian, and no-one will want him in their side of the draw in the upcoming major tournaments, including the next Masters 1000 event in Rome starting on Monday, as Novak Djokovic will look to win the title for a third successive time.
Dan Evans has improved on his career high last week, and has a new personal best of 86th after making the final of a challenger event in Busan, South Korea. Fellow Brit Kyle Edmund also was successful this week, winning the challenger event in Rome and reaches a career high of 82nd. His defeated opponent, Filip Krajinovic, climbs back into the top 100, up 16 places.
Also with a high improvement this week was Denis Istomin, who rose 15 places, back to 64th, and Dudi Sela, who reached 63rd, up 11 places.
Juan Martin del Potro continues his fightback, climbing 45 places into 229th, and will look to break the top 100 in the coming months, but from the top 200 up, every point will count because it’s so tight in the rankings, all the way up the 20s.
The Masters 1000 continues this week in Rome, and play is already underway as Djokovic looks to win the title for the 3rd successive year.
