Novak Djokovic continued his dominating form since his return to touring as he claimed his second consecutive title on Sunday after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third edition of the Astana Open.
With a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday’s final at the Astana Open in Kazakhstan, Novak Djokovic ran his autumn winning streak to nine matches. The victory guarantees the 35-year-old a spot at the 2022 ATP Finals. And with the impressive win in Astana, Djokovic equalled one of Roger Federer’s magnificent feat and also joined Rafael Nadal in an elite list.
This was the 90th tour-level title for the 35-year-old and it required only 75 minutes.
For the third-seeded Greek Tsitsipas, it was the ninth time he played in an ATP 500 final – and the ninth time he came up empty. Djokovic now leads their ATP Head2Head series 8-2 and has won the past seven.
As a result of the win, the Serbian star secures himself a Top 20 spot in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race to Turin after the 2022 Rolex Paris Masters, meaning the reigning Wimbledon champion qualifies for the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals as a current-year Grand Slam winner. It was the 90th career tour-level title for Djokovic and the fourth of 2022.
“I dared to dream” – Novak Djokovic
When the on-court interviewer observed that Djokovic probably never dreamed of 90 ATP Tour titles, Djokovic shook his head.
“I dared to dream, actually,” he corrected.
“I always hoped that I would be going to have a great career. Obviously, didn’t know the amount of finals I was going to play, the amount of tournaments I was going to win, but my intention was always to reach the highest heights in our sport.”
With the title in Astana, Djokovic now has won an ATP title in 19 different countries, the same as Federer. His title hauls have come in – the Netherlands, France, Australia, USA, Portugal, Canada, Austria, Italy, China, UAE, Serbia, Switzerland, Spain, UK, Monaco, Qatar, Japan, Israel, and Kazakhstan.
