He won a record 29th Masters title on Sunday in Madrid, beating Scot Andy Murray 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to claim the title in the Spanish capital for the second time and prevent Murray from retaining the crown.
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Murray saved a match point in the eighth game of the deciding set and another in the 13-minute ninth game while also seeing the Serb save seven break points.
Murray peppered away at the Djokovic serve but he could only take one of his eight break-point chances in the third and after Djokovic broke for a second time, he was able to close out the win.
Murray’s failure to retain his Madrid Open title has seen him drop to world No. 3 behind Roger Federer.
This was only his second win over Nadal on clay, both on this court, having stunned Nadal in last year’s Madrid final. But while Murray’s aggressive positioning on the return reaped dividends at times, Djokovic is nothing if not a fighter and eventually, tenaciously, he served out for the title.
“Andy has improved tremendously on clay and has proved he is definitely one of the best in the world on this surface”, he said.
The Scot broke Nadal’s third service game in the second and held his serve to knock out the home favorite, taking advantage of a second match point after spurning the first. “It makes a huge difference”, Murray said. I had to fight back and look for a solution.
“That’s why he’s No. 1 just now”, Murray said.
The Spaniard couldn’t back up the break, though, as he dumped a smash into the net to bring up two more match points and then also found the net with a regulation forehand to hand Murray victory in just over two hours on court.
“This trophy means a lot – it’s a great lead-up to Rome [where he will aim to retain the Internazionali d’Italia] and of course the French Open, which I want to approach in the best possible shape”.
Murray became the first player to ever beat Nadal at the same clay tournament in consecutive years.
Nerves played a part as Djokovic double-faulted twice in that game and squandered four match points en route to dropping serve for the first time in the tournament.
That should be encouragement for Djokovic, who beat Nishikori 6-3, 7-6 in the evening session to set up a 15th career final against Murray.
Spain’s Rafael Nadal in action at the Madrid Open men’s singles quarter-final on Friday.
“Novak has had a lot of wins against me in the past couple of years unfortunately, but he has done some great things and also deserved this win”, Murray said.
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So, it’s a 32nd career meeting with Djokovic next for Murray, and as he was before the Tomas Berdych match, Murray has a 0-3 career head-to-head on clay to overcome against his rival.
