Djokovic wins 2022 Rome Masters over Tsitsipas

Stefanos Tsitsipas never experienced a bagel on clay before but that changed today as Djokovic played like a true number one to down the Greek 6-0 7-6(5).

Novak Djokovic was considered a heavy favourite in this match before it started but not many thought we would see the first set we got. Tsitsipas elected to serve and it proved the wrong decision. A slow and nervous start, a couple of bad misses and Djokovic took the early break. From there it snowballed to a first set bagel as Tsitsipas could not hit his serve consistently.

When Tsitsipas doesn't have his first serve he becomes very vulnerable and Djokovic took full advantage of that. Tsitsipas got his serve back in the 2nd set and it gave Djokovic some trouble. The Serbian had a drop off in energy as well and Tsitsipas was able to jump out to a 4-1 lead. He had a break point to make it 5-1 but Djokovic saved it and it brought him back a bit.

Tsitsipas had a 5-2 lead but Djokovic was able to battle back and make it 5-5. Tsitsipas stabilized with a quick service game for 6-5 and Djokovic sent it into the tiebreak. In the tiebreak, Djokovic targeted Tsitsipas on his backhand and it worked. The Greek did not last and his serve did not bail him out as much as he needed to. In the end, Djokovic finished it off with 7-5 in the tiebreak.