Tennis ATP

Novak Djokovic Wins Sixth Miami Open Title

Novak Djokovic wins his sixth Miami Open title. He becomes the first men's player to win the BNP Paribas-Miami tournaments three consecutive times.

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Novak Djokovic wins his sixth Miami Open title, tying Andre Agassi for most tournament wins.
Novak Djokovic wins his sixth Miami Open title, tying Andre Agassi for most tournament wins.

With a 6-3, 6-3 straight set victory over world no. 6 Kei Nishikori, Novak Djokovic becomes the first ATP player to win a total of three straight Miami Open and BNP Paribas titles in the same year. Djokovic holds the record for most such double-title wins at four.

He ties tennis legend Andre Agassi for a record six Miami Open championships. Djokovic has lost just two out of fifty-eight matches in a record 11 straight ATP Masters finals. This championship also puts Djokovic one short of tying tennis legends Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras for sixth place in Open Era Leaders.

This victory gives the world number one his third title of the year. He moves ahead of world no.5 Rafael Nadal in Masters Tournament, with a record of 28 tournament wins. He also moves past coach Boris Becker for eleventh place in the Open Era Match record with his 714th win. Djokovic has lost only one match in 2016, a withdrawal in the Dubai Tennis Championships earlier in February.

World no. 6 Kei Nishikori has now lost seven matches in nine meetings against Djokovic.
World no. 6 Kei Nishikori has now lost seven matches in nine meetings against Djokovic.

Japan’s Kei Nishikori started the match by going toe-to-toe with Djokovic, only going down 3-4 in the opening frame. However, Djokovic stamped his dominance by taking five straight games to take the set.

Djokovic seemed to gather steam in the second set, going up 2-0, never allowing the Japanese to get any closer. He finished Nishikori off in less than one hour and thirty minutes. The Serbian did not lose a single set for the entirety of the tournament.

“It’s tough to find his weakness, honestly. The biggest thing is he has great defence and it’s tough to open up the space,” said Nishikori, who has lost seven times in nine meetings against the Serb. “I had a couple of strategies before the match, but I don’t think I did them well enough to beat him today.”

Djokovic will try to match his 2015 performance of being the first ever to win all three opening ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in the 2016 Monte Carlo Masters. He is also be going for his third Monte Carlo title in four years.

Djokovic lost to Stan Wawrinka in last year's French Open Final. The Grand Slam event has eluded the world number one.
Djokovic lost to Stan Wawrinka in last year’s French Open Final. The Grand Slam title has eluded the world number one.

The 28-year old Djokovic has also publicly stated his desire of winning the French Open, one of the major titles that have eluded the world no. 1. “Clay courts are the most physically demanding surface, so also looking at the big picture, the French Open is the biggest goal that I have on the clay courts.

I’ll try to adjust to that tournament as well,” said Djokovic when asked about that specific Grand Slam event. He added: “I don’t feel too exhausted. I don’t think I will have any difficulty to make the transition to the clay courts quickly. Let’s see what happens.”