Novak Djokovic defends Paris Masters with 600th career victory
Paris, Nov 2 (IANS) World No.1 Novak Djokovic, a two-time champion in previous Paris Masters, Sunday claimed his 20th ATP Masters 1,000 title here without dropping a set after taking his 600th career victory over 10th-ranked Canadian Milos Raonic. It took the 27-year-old Serbian an hour and 23 minutes to brush aside the 23-year-old Canadian 6-2, 6-3 to lift the tree-shaped crystal trophy and go further en route to ending the year on top, Xinhua reported.
With the victory, coming in the first tournament that the Serbian has taken part since becoming a father, Djokovic increased his lead over Roger Federer in the rankings to 1,310 points before the ATP Finals in London November 9-16. Breaking service in as early as the second game and holding off a right calf strain while leading 4-2, Djokovic, being impressive from the baseline and solid on serve, wrapped up the first set by breaking a second serve after Raonic committed double faults in the game.
Rushing into the second set, the Serbian, saving all of his four break points throughout the match, again converted an early break service, which is enough for the defending champion.
The big server Raonic, who needed to unpack a second racket by the end of the second set, came close to a break in the first set as he took eight points in a row but failed to convert three straight break opportunities.