Djokovic Claims Sixth Italian Open Title

Tennis - ATP Masters 1000 - Italian Open - Foro Italico, Rome, Italy - May 15, 2022 Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates with the trophy after winning the final against Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
Tennis - ATP Masters 1000 - Italian Open - Foro Italico, Rome, Italy - May 15, 2022 Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates with the trophy after winning the final against Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
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Djokovic Claims Sixth Italian Open Title

Tennis - ATP Masters 1000 - Italian Open - Foro Italico, Rome, Italy - May 15, 2022 Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates with the trophy after winning the final against Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
Tennis - ATP Masters 1000 - Italian Open - Foro Italico, Rome, Italy - May 15, 2022 Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates with the trophy after winning the final against Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane

Novak Djokovic won his sixth Italian Open title on Sunday after a straight-sets victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-0, 7-6 (7/5) in Rome, while Iga Swiatek won her fifth straight tournament by dispatching Ons Jabeur.

World number one Djokovic saw off underwhelming Monte Carlo Masters champion Tsitsipas to claim the last major tournament before Roland Garros gets underway later this month.

The 34-year-old won his first tournament of the season and confirmed his return to form after an opening few months of the season dominated by Covid-19 vaccination controversy.

"I've been building my form for the last couple of weeks and like the previous years I knew that my best shape on the clay is usually coming around Rome time," Djokovic said on the court.

"So it couldn't be a better time coming into Roland Garros with a title."

Sunday's clash was a rematch of the pair's final at last year's French Open final but had little of the drama of that five-set thriller won by the Serb in Paris.

Djokovic made surprisingly short work of Greece's Tsitsipas, who had also reached the semi-finals of last week's tournament in Madrid and still leads the men's tour for wins this season.

Ranked fifth in the world, Tsitsipas was taken apart in the first set and looked oddly reluctant to take on Djokovic, but put up more of a fight in the second right until he threw away the set after serving for the match, succumbing in the tie-break without much resistance.

An emotional Djokovic then spoke to the crowd in Italian, telling them that they were the reason he had such a good record there and revealing his son Stefan was playing in his first ever tennis tournament, AFP reported.

He later beamed with pride as he revealed Djokovic junior had claimed the honors at a small club competition back home in Serbia.

"My son actually won the tournament. It's a sunshine double today," Djokovic told reporters.

Iga Swiatek said she was going to treat Roland Garros as "any other tournament" after beating Jabeur 6-2, 6-2 to retain the women's title.

World number one Swiatek dropped to her knees in tears of joy after winning her 28th match in a row, and will be red-hot favorite in Paris.

"I'm going to treat it as any other tournament, I think it's going to be fine and I'm going to be able to keep it that way," said Swiatek.

"I already know that I did some great stuff this season, so I feel like I can just play freely and not think I have to win."

The 20-year-old Pole has dropped just one set in her last 20 matches and calmly dealt with Jabeur in a largely one-sided final in Rome.

Tunisia's Jabeur had made history last week after becoming the first Arab or African woman to win a WTA 1000 title but could not extend a career-best 11-match winning streak against her relentless opponent.

Jabeur had come into her first Rome final on a roasting Foro Italico center court on the back of two thrilling comeback wins over Daria Kasatkina and Maria Sakkari.

And another unlikely comeback bid looked to be on when, a set down, she had three break points in game seven of the second set to take it to 4-3, only to lose the game after wasting another break chance at deuce.

"When she doubled faulted at deuce I was like 'why didn't she do that a point or two points before?'," said Jabeur.

"I did everything I can, I hit every corner of the court."

Jabeur has moved up one place in the world ranking to sixth after reaching her second straight final and remains a force for the French Open.



Naomi Osaka Loses to Karolina Muchova in US Open Second Round  

Japan's Naomi Osaka reacts during her women's singles second round tennis match against Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova on day four of the US Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, on August 29, 2024. (AFP)
Japan's Naomi Osaka reacts during her women's singles second round tennis match against Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova on day four of the US Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, on August 29, 2024. (AFP)
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Naomi Osaka Loses to Karolina Muchova in US Open Second Round  

Japan's Naomi Osaka reacts during her women's singles second round tennis match against Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova on day four of the US Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, on August 29, 2024. (AFP)
Japan's Naomi Osaka reacts during her women's singles second round tennis match against Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova on day four of the US Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, on August 29, 2024. (AFP)

Seemingly back in her US Open match, suddenly a point from getting to a third set, Naomi Osaka lost her way Thursday night, missing forehand after forehand until she ceded that game and chucked her racket, sending it clattering on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court.

Not much later, she was out of the tournament, eliminated 6-3, 7-6 (5) by Karolina Muchova in the second round of an event where Osaka won two of her four Grand Slam titles.

“It's a little rough, because I do take these losses really personally. It’s like a dramatic word, but I feel like my heart dies every time I lose,” said Osaka, the champion at Flushing Meadows in 2018 and 2020, and at the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021. “It sucks a lot, but I’ve been trying to be more mature and learn and talk more about them.”

Osaka — once ranked No. 1 but now No. 88 after missing nearly 1 1/2 years because of mental health breaks and time off to have a baby — struggled for much of the early going, dropping five consecutive games and 22 of 26 points in one stretch.

But she played much better in the second set, getting her only break of the match to lead 5-4 and yelling “Come on!” when Muchova netted a forehand. The crowd roared for Osaka.

Serving for that set, Osaka hit a 119 mph ace, her fastest of the match, to lead 40-love. That gave her three chances to extend the match to a third set. That's when Osaka really faltered, making five forehand errors, with a double-fault mixed in, to waste all three of those set points and, worse, get broken.

“During the pressure moments, I got nervous, and I don’t know if I just have to keep playing more matches and get used to that feeling, especially on a really big stage,” Osaka said. “Honestly, if I get past the disappointment, I feel pretty proud of myself to have gotten that many opportunities while still feeling like I could have played much better.”

When they got to the tiebreaker, it was Muchova who asserted herself, then used some scrambling defense on the last point, flinging the ball back over the net and seeing Osaka send a swinging volley out.

“This is unbelievable — the atmosphere and the people. This is crazy energy,” said Muchova, a 28-year-old from the Czech Republic.

She enjoyed a breakout season in 2023, reaching the final at the French Open before losing to Iga Swiatek, and the semifinals at the US Open before exiting against eventual champion Coco Gauff. But shortly after that run at Flushing Meadows, Muchova left the tour because of an injured right wrist and she had surgery in October.

She was sidelined until this June; her Grand Slam return was a first-round loss at Wimbledon last month.

“Honestly, this year, the biggest win for me is that I could play again,” Muchova said. “This is just a cherry on top, to be here again, in this stadium.”

On this brisk evening, with the temperature dipping to 70 degrees after topping 90 on Wednesday afternoon, Muchova did not look at all like someone who is currently ranked 52nd.

Using a pen to jot down thoughts in a notebook during changeovers, Osaka was never able to seize control of the on-court exchanges.

Her groundstrokes were not as perfect as they were during a 6-3, 6-2 victory over 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko on Tuesday. Osaka did not make a single unforced error until the second set of that one, which became her first win against an opponent ranked in the top 10 in more than four years.

But if Osaka played so-so this time, Muchova was the one who looked terrific, whether serve-and-volleying or mixing in slices, finding her spots with serves or turning up the power when she wanted.

From the moment Osaka went ahead 3-2 at the start, everything went in Muchova's direction through the end of that set. And just as it seemed Osaka was getting back into the contest — with thousands of spectators supporting her — her forehand let her down.