Novak Djokovic has won the hundredth ATP title of his career on Saturday. The 24-time Grand Slam winner was too strong for Pole Hubert Hurkacz in the final of the Geneva gravel tournament.
The 38-year-old Djokovic defeated the ten-year-younger Hurkacz in a war of attrition: 5-7, 7-6 (2) and 7-6 (2). The match on the Swiss gravel lasted more than three hours.
In the first set, Djokovic and Hurkacz were very evenly matched. The Serbian wasted two breakpoints in the fifth game, after which his opponent did strike in the twelfth game at his first break chance.
Djokovic also had a hard time with Hurkacz in the second set. A tiebreak was needed, and in it the world number six turned out to be clearly the better with 7-2.
In the decisive set, Djokovic was soon facing a break deficit, but restored the balance in the eighth game. A tiebreak ultimately had to provide the decisive result, and in it Djokovic pulled out all the stops on his first match point.
Djokovic had been waiting for his hundredth tournament victory since his Olympic title in Paris. After that, he had already reached the final twice, but he lost to Jannik Sinner in Shanghai and was surprised by the Czech Jakub MensÃk in Miami. In Geneva, the third time was the charm.