Western & Southern Open<\/a> final in two hours and four minutes.<\/strong><\/p>\nBoth players showcased a high-level performance in their 12th career meeting.<\/p>\n
In an entertaining first set, with Novak leading 5-4, Zverev withstood a barrage of pressure from the 23-time major titlist, saving three break\/set points to survive a 10-minute service game. Djokovic prevailed in a tie-break, converting his sixth set point to gain an advantage.<\/p>\n
When Novak broke Zverev in the opening game of the second set, it seemed that might be all he’d need to secure the triumph. Although the 36-year-old Belgrade native was broken while serving for the match at 5-4, he quickly recovered to earn a break of his own, closing the thrilling contest in his following service game.<\/p>\n
“In very few of his service games where I had chances, I played well, particularly five-all after he broke my serve to stay in the match,”<\/em> Djokovic said. “I managed to bounce back, played a great game to break him again and seal the deal in the 12th game of the second set. “I’m pleased. There’s a few things I could’ve done better, but overall it’s a straight-sets win against a great player in form, so I’m really happy.”<\/em><\/p>\nMatch statistics: aces (4-10), double faults (3-3), winners (19-20), unforced errors (29-37), total points won (83-77).<\/p>\n
Novak will face top seed Carlos Alcaraz in the highly anticipated ATP Masters 1000 event final, on Sunday at 22:30 CET.<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Spaniard overcame a match point to beat Hubert Hurkacz (POL) in three sets.<\/p>\n
“It’s amazing for the sport to have the number one and number two players facing each other in the final of a big event,”<\/strong> Djokovic said about the upcoming challenge. “This is what I guess everybody wanted and expected at the beginning of the tournament so here we are.”<\/strong><\/p>\nPlaying in his first tournament in the USA since 2021, Novak has not dropped a set all week. He is aiming for a record-extending 39th Masters crown.<\/p>\n
Photo: Profimedia<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nole defeated Alexander Zverev in straight sets 7-6 (5), 7-5, to power into the Western & Southern Open final in two hours and four minutes. He will face top seed Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday at 22:30 CET, aiming for a record-extending 39th Masters crown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":165668,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[101012177,101012291,101011267,101010433,101013350],"class_list":["post-165671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis","tag-atp-1000-en","tag-cincinnati-en","tag-masters-1000-en","tag-semifinal-en","tag-westernsouthern-open-2023-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/novakdjokovic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/novakdjokovic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/novakdjokovic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novakdjokovic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novakdjokovic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165671"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/novakdjokovic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":165701,"href":"https:\/\/novakdjokovic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165671\/revisions\/165701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novakdjokovic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/novakdjokovic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novakdjokovic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novakdjokovic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}