On Sunday, Novak Djokovic won the Adelaide International by defeating unseeded American Sebastian Korda 6-7 (8), 7-6 (3), 6-4. He didn’t seem to have any injuries that would have kept him out of the Australian Open.
On Sunday, Novak Djokovic won the Adelaide International by defeating unseeded American Sebastian Korda 6-7 (8), 7-6 (3), 6-4. He didn’t seem to have any injuries that would have kept him out of the Australian Open. The Open’s organizers were concerned when Djokovic stated that he had been having issues with a tight hamstring following his semifinal match against Daniil Medvedev in Adelaide. He asserts that the injury improved throughout the game.
Any lingering issues probably would have surfaced during Sunday’s marathon final, which lasted more than three hours and saw Djokovic win his 92nd career singles title. Additionally, he won his second Adelaide title 16 years after winning the first one; He won the tournament in 2007 as a 19-year-old.
Djokovic had to save a match point and a championship point at 5-6 in the second set on Sunday due to the 22-year-old Korda. Petr Korda, the 1998 Australian Open champion, is the father of Korda.
A few points separated the teams and decided the match’s outcome. Djokovic held serve to love in his first four service games in the final set. In his fifth service game, Korda moved him to deuce, and he held serve to love.
Djokovic rallied from 15-40 down at 5-4 in the subsequent service game against Korda to win four points in a row, winning the set in 51 minutes and the match in 3 hours, 9 minutes. “I hope everyone enjoyed the show tonight, it’s been an amazing week,” Djokovic said. Seb’s played well today and had a great tournament.
He probably had a better chance of winning than I did at times today, in my opinion. Very few shots and points were made. Djokovic’s coach, Goran Ivanicevic, would occasionally assist him from the courtside box, and after losing a point, Djokovic would occasionally argue with himself.
I’d like to thank my team for all of their care and concern throughout this day. I’m glad they’re here, even though I’m sure they didn’t have as much fun with me going back and forth with them. He served consistently at the start of the first set; He didn’t lose a point on first serve until Korda broke him to make it 5-4. Due to Djokovic’s immediate response, the set went to a tiebreaker.
Djokovic saved all five set points to level the tiebreaker at 6-6 after Korda took an early lead. Following that, Korda regained control. Korda gained yet another advantage when Djokovic framed a forehand that hit the crowd, allowing the American to win the tiebreaker 10-8. After saving a match point and forcing a tiebreaker, Djokovic won the second set comfortably at 5-6 on serve.
Korda occasionally presented a challenge for Djokovic when he served, but Djokovic played some outstanding service games. However, he was broken for the second time in the match in the tenth game of the deciding set, with only a few points separating the two sets. Aryna Sabalenka, seeded second, defeated Linda Noskova, a qualifier, in the women’s final, 6-2, 7-6 (4), to win her 11th WTA Tour singles title and first in nearly two years.
She ended an extraordinary run by 18-year-old Noskova, who reached her first final by defeating third-seeded Daria Kasatkina and former Australian Open champion Viktoria Asarenka in the main draw. On Sunday, it looked like Sabalenka would easily win the second set. This week, she hadn’t lost a set. However, Noskova was much more competitive in the second set. She held Sabalenka’s serve after pressing it with powerful backhand returns. “I think I’m a different player right now,” Sabalenka stated. perhaps a little bit more collected and mature in court. A little bit changed in everything.
“I would like to wish Noskova a happy week. I am certain that you will succeed in the future and take part in numerous finals. Sabalenka won her first title in Madrid in May 2021, but she did not win a title in 2022 despite reaching three finals. She qualified for the season-ending WTA Finals in Fort Worth because she was ranked fifth at the end of the year. Caroline Garcia defeated her in the final.
Sabalenka won Shenzen in 2019 and Abu Dhabi in 2021 in the first week of a season, respectively.