Djokovic defeats Tsitsipas in five-set marathon, wins his second French Open

Sports Sunday 13/June/2021 21:57 PM
By: ANI
Djokovic defeats Tsitsipas in five-set marathon, wins his second French Open
Djokovic has now won 19 Grand Slam titles | Picture courtesy: ANI

Paris, France: World number one Novak Djokovic on Sunday managed to win the French Open for the second time in his career.

Djokovic has now won 19 Grand Slam titles.

The Serbian defeated Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas in the men's finals of the French Open. Djokovic defeated Tsitsipas 6-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in the men's finals here at Court Philippe-Chatrier. The match lasted for more than four hours.

In the first set, both Djokovic and Tsitsipas went back and forth, and at one stage the scoreline was level at 6-6 and as a result, the first set went into the tie-breaker. It was Tsitsipas who managed to hold his nerve and he ended up winning the first set 7-6.

The 22-year-old Tsitsipas made light work of Djokovic's challenge in the second set, and he put the Serbian on the backfoot, winning it and if Djokovic had to win the match from here on, he needed to win three back-to-back sets while a win in another set was good enough for Tsitsipas to win the Grand Slam.

Djokovic then staged a comeback in the third set and dropped just three games, winning it 6-3 and as a consequence, the match progressed into the fourth set.

The 34-year-old Serbian took his game to another level and he won the fourth set, and as a result, the match progressed into the fifth and deciding set.

In the fifth and deciding set, Djokovic managed to hold his nerve and composure and in the end, he walked away with a memorable win after being two sets down in the summit clash.

In the semi-finals, Tsitsipas had defeated Alexander Zverev of Germany while Djokovic had outclassed defending champion, Rafael Nadal.