Alex de Minaur won the opening game of the second set of the China Open final on Tuesday and then retired. Novak Djokovic, leading 7-6(3), 0-1, had his seventh Beijing title and the 102nd tour-level title of his career, and for the second day running he had won a match without reaching match point.
De Minaur left the court for treatment on his groin after losing the first-set tiebreak and came back with his left thigh heavily bandaged. Djokovic, 39, also has treatment during the break and both players called for the physio after the set with Djokovic treated first.
Until then the final had been close. De Minaur had a break point in the fifth game, and Djokovic saved it with a full-stretch backhand down the sideline. The Australian held the rest of the way to force the tiebreak, where his errors mounted and Djokovic took it 7-3. De Minaur had repeatedly used his court coverage and his willingness to attack to put Djokovic on the back foot, and that Djokovic found his shotmaking when it mattered.
“It’s a bit of a strange feeling, to be honest,” Djokovic said. “At the same time, he [De Minaur] retired at the beginning of the second, so it doesn’t feel right to jump around and be joyful.” “I’m really sorry for the way you had to finish today and I really hope that you can recover quickly,” Djokovic told De Minaur at the trophy presentation. “I don’t feel great … I want to say sorry to all the amazing fans,” De Minaur said.
The semifinal. Djokovic reached the final on Monday when Daniil Medvedev was defaulted. Djokovic led 7-5, 5-3 and was serving at 15-15, Olympics.com reported, when a Djokovic forehand volley winner bounced off the advertising boards back to Medvedev, who swung a backhand at it that sailed into the stands, according to ABC. The ball hit a spectator in the front row, who was helped out of the arena holding a hand over his left eye.
“It was 100% an accident,” Medvedev said. “You can see that I didn’t hit the ball in anger. The ball was bouncing back, so I tried to just hit it anywhere, so it wouldn’t go out of the court.” He told reporters he was “terribly sorry to the spectator” and was trying to get in touch with him, ABC reported. “Hopefully I can apologize in person and see how he feels.”
Djokovic was defaulted from the 2020 US Open after a ball he hit struck a line judge. “I’m a bit shocked. Sorry for the person. I hope he is not injured,” he told reporters. “I feel sorry for Daniil as well because I know exactly what it feels to be DQ in a match for this.” The other semifinal ended early too. Hubert Hurkacz retired trailing De Minaur 6-4, 3-2 due to an apparent adductor injury.
The record. Djokovic is 34-0 at the China Open and this was his first appearance in Beijing since 2015, when he beat Rafael Nadal in the final for his sixth title. His week included a quarterfinal win over top seed Alexander Zverev. The 102 titles leave him one behind Roger Federer’s 103 for second in the Open Era, behind Jimmy Connors’ 109 and he has now won a singles title in 21 consecutive years.
What it means. Djokovic rose six places to ninth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin and leads De Minaur, in 10th, by 140 points. That position gained weight hours later, when world No. 1 Jannik Sinner announced that his season was over and that he would not defend his title at the Nitto ATP Finals. GTN’s Race to Turin explainer sets out how the eight-man field is decided.
Shanghai. The Shanghai Masters main draw begins on Wednesday. Djokovic, a four-time champion there, has a first-round bye and plays Hurkacz or James Duckworth in his opening match, with Lorenzo Musetti a possible third-round opponent. De Minaur is in Zverev’s quarter, and Medvedev opens against Martin Landaluce or Jan-Lennard Struff. GTN’s Shanghai draw report has the full breakdown.
