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Djokovic wins 40th Masters title

Novak Djokovic won a re­cord-extending seventh Paris Masters trophy and a 40th Masters title in total on Sunday.

The world number one beat unseeded GrigorDimitrov 6-4 6-3 in straightforward fashion.

It is the 36-year-old’s sixth ti­tle of 2023, which includes three Grand Slam crowns and the Masters trophy in Cincinnati.

Djokovic has been dominant on hard courts this season, win­ning 33 matches and only losing once.

Playing in his 58th Mas­ters final, the Serb was hardly challenged by Bulgarian Dimitrov, ranked 17th in the world, who was playing in only his second Masters final.

The 24-time Grand Slam cham­pion only needed one break to take the first set with Dimitrov, 32, hitting a lame backhand into the net at close range to hand Djokov­ic the advantage.

Djokovic was met with a wall of cheers and some boos from the Bercy crowd after serving out the first set, and smiled as he made a gesture with his hands towards the crowd asking for more.

Former world number three,Dimitrov, could not repro­duce the strong form he had shown during the week, hitting 19 unforced errors in the first set compared with 10 from Djokov­ic.

The second set continued in the same fashion as Djokovic serenely made his way to victory with a double break.

Next up for Djokovic will be the season-ending ATP Tour Finals in Turin, where he will be the heavy favourite to lift a re­cord-breaking seventh title, and be confirmed as the year-end number one player in the world for a record-extending eighth time. —BBC

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