Top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic won his second Shanghai Rolex Masters trophy and 15th ATP Masters 1000 title when he beat no.6 seed Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (3) in Sunday finals.
It is Nole`s 39th career crown and fifth in 2013 (Australian Open, Dubai, Monte Carlo, Beijing).
The match lasted two hours and 32 minutes.
Novak raced to a 5-0 lead in the opening set, breaking Del Potro in the second and fourth games. He served out the set 6-1.
The Argentine converted his break point chance in the second game of the second set and kept the advantage to take it 6-3.
Djokovic had two break/match points in the 10th game of the deciding final set, but Del Potro fended off both and forced a tie-breaker. Nole won it 7-3 to remain unbeaten in his last 20 matches in China.
“The whole third set was give and take. I was break points down, he was break points down. Just in the important moments I managed to play some better shots than he did,” Novak said. “I was fortunate and I am just really glad to win the title.”
The 26-year-old Monte Carlo resident landed 79% of his first service points and was 18/19 on net approaches.
Match statistics: aces (10-5), double faults (0-2), winners (47-34), unforced errors (26-29), total points won (101-88).
Novak now has a 62-9 (41-5 on hard) record on the season and five titles in seven finals.
The world no.2 will next play at the BNP Paribas Masters event, taking place in Paris from October 28 to November 3.
Photo: Getty Images
