Novak Djokovic began his quest for a record-tying sixth Nitto ATP Finals title Monday when he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 7-6(4) to end the Greek’s chances at the Pepperstone ATP rankings at the end of the year.
Fans were dazzled by the pre-match electric light show at the Pala Alpitour before Djokovic took center stage and put in a brutal performance to go 1-0 in the Red Group.
The Serb quickly found his range in Turin and broke in the first game to take control early on. The seventh seed pulled Tsitsipas across the field with his precise groundstrokes as he made a series of stunning passes and displayed great agility to triumph after an hour and 37 minutes.
Djokovic now leads Tsitsipas 10-2 in their ATP Head2Head series, having beaten the 24-year-old en route to the title in Astana and the final in Paris last month.
The 35-year-old has won 14 of his past 15 matches and showed his match sharpness to beat the Greek again, saving the only break point to improve to 42-17 at the Nitto ATP Finals.
Djokovic, who last lifted the Brad Drewett Trophy in 2015, is aiming to equal Roger Federer’s record of six wins at the tournament, which is being held in Turin for the second time. The former world No. 1 also plays Andrey Rublev and Daniil Medvedev in the round-robin stage, with Rublev defeating Medvedev earlier on Monday.
Tsitsipas has racked up 60 Tour-leading wins this season and sought to finish the season as the year-end No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. However, his chances of finishing 2022 on top of the tennis mountain are now over. The Greek, who took the crown at the 2019 year-end event, had to take the title as undefeated champion.
Carlos Alcaraz will end the season as the world number 1 if Nadal does not lift the trophy in Turin.
