SHANGHAI, Oct 13 (Reuters): Novak Djokovic's bid to add a 100th singles title to his trophy cabinet on Sunday was dashed after he was beaten 7-6(4) 6-3 by world number one Jannik Sinner in the Shanghai Masters final on Sunday.
The Serb had been hoping to become only the third man to win 100 singles titles on the tour in the professional era after Jimmy Connors (109) and rival Roger Federer (103), who was watching on from the stands alongside four-times Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz.
In front of a packed crowd at the Qi Zhong Stadium, 23-year-old Sinner came out on top in a tiebreak in an enthralling opening set, before taking the one-sided second set to become the youngest-ever champion in Shanghai.
"He was serving great the first set, I really couldn't find a way to break him," Sinner said.
"Then I played a very good tiebreaker in the first set, which gave me the confidence to start off well in the second set. I'm obviously very happy about my performance throughout this whole tournament”.
It's a very special one."
There were no breakpoints in a tense opening set where both players dominated on serve. Djokovic, who owns 24-times Grand Slam titles among his haul, gave away just five points in six service games.
It took a tiebreak to separate the two and Sinner, who improved his record in tiebreakers this year to 24-8, took the first four points in a row before clinching the first set when a Djokovic return flew wide.
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