World number two Novak Djokovic of Serbia successfully defended the Shanghai Masters title on Sunday after he defeated Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 in a thrilling finale that lasted 2 hours and 32 minutes.
Djokovic remains unbeaten in Chinese soil for the past two years, having won both the China Open and Shanghai Masters titles the past two years. Juan Martin Del Potro was aiming to win his first ATP Masters 1000 title but was denied once again. Del Potro came close to winning a Masters title in Indian Wells this year but lost to Rafael Nadal. He exacted revenge to Nadal in the semifinals in Shanghai but just lost a few crucial points to lose the match to the top seed.
“He’s a fantastic player and a great person,” said Djokovic. “He showed that again. He has a really likable personality [and] he’s a big fighter. All the way up to the last point, I didn’t know if I was going to win the match. It was a very even match. My motivation is there always, especially when I’m playing finals of such a big event.”
Despite the loss, Del Potro secured a place at the year-end ATP World Tour Finals. Four more berths are up for grabs.
“The match was really close and I think Nole played [some] unbelievable points in the tie-break,” said del Potro. “The match was so exciting. At Wimbledon [in early July] we played another fantastic match against each other.
Djokovic received $729,725 in prize money and 1,000 ATP Ranking points, while del Potro got $357,800 and 600 points
