Djokovic wins in New York, equals Nadal’s record
World number one Novak Djokovic kept up his unbeaten record in 2020 with a 1-6 6-3 6-4 victory over Milos Raonic to win the Western and Southern Open.
The Serb, 33, equalled Rafael Nadal’s record of 35 Masters 1000 Series titles with the comeback win in New York.
Canadian Raonic, the world number 30, took the first set in 31 minutes.
But Djokovic levelled before coming from 2-0 down to the 29-year-old in the deciding set to clinch his 80th ATP title in exactly two hours.
Since the creation of the Masters 1000 in 2009, Djokovic is the only player to claim all nine events – known as the Career Golden Masters – and this victory means he has achieved the feat twice.
, a former world number three, won the last of his eight ATP titles in 2016 and was seeking to become the first unseeded winner of the event.
He had not beaten Djokovic in 10 previous meetings but produced some superb strokeplay to dominate the opening set.
Djokovic played the longest match of the tournament when he took more than three hours to beat Roberto Bautista Agut in Friday’s semi-final and illustrated his stamina and resolve again to extend his record in 2020 to 23-0.
The event is usually held in Ohio but has been switched to New York to reduce unnecessary player travel before the US Open in the same city starting on Monday.
