[1/6] Tennis - ATP Masters 1000 - Paris Masters - AccorHotels Arena, Paris, France - November 5, 2023 Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates with the trophy after winning his men's singles final match against Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq Acquire Licensing RightsPARIS, Nov 5 (Reuters) - World number one Novak Djokovic cruised to a record-extending seventh Paris Masters title on Sunday when the top-seeded Serbian outclassed Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 6-3 in the final.
In a clash featuring the two oldest players in the world's top 20, the 36-year-old Djokovic drew first blood, breaking the 17th-ranked Dimitrov for a 4-3 lead in the opening set, and he closed it out comfortably in 51 minutes.
The unseeded Dimitrov's only victory over Djokovic in 12 previous meetings came a decade ago and although the 32-year-old put up more of a fight in the second set, he could not prevent Djokovic from taking his 40th ATP Masters 1000 title.
Victory was sealed when Dimitrov sent a backhand wide, extended Djokovic's winning run to 18 matches since his defeat by Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon title clash in July.
Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; editing by Clare FallonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons:
Serbia's Novak Djokovic, Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov, Stephanie Lecocq, Novak Djokovic, Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, Djokovic, Dimitrov, Dimitrov's, Carlos Alcaraz, Shrivathsa Sridhar, Clare Fallon
Organizations:
Paris, Rights, Bulgarian, Djokovic, ATP, Wimbledon, Thomson
Locations:
Paris, France, Bengaluru