Tour Capsules: Djokovic, Stosur, Kerber Win Titles

Djokovic Edges Del Potro to Win ATP Shanghai Masters

World No. 2 Novak Djokovic hung on to defeat No. 6 seed Juan Martin del Potro 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(3) in the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final in Shanghai.
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“He’s a fantastic player and a great person,” said Djokovic, a member of the del Potro fan club. “He showed that again. He has a really likable personality — he’s a big fighter. All the way up to the last point, I didn’t know if I was going to win the match.”

Del Potro after being dominated in the first set took a 3-0 lead in the second en route to a 6-3 set win. In the third set tiebreak, Djokovic went up an early mini-break and rode it out for the win.

“The match was really close and I think Nole played unbelievable points in the tiebreak,” del Potro said. “The match was so exciting…It’s a really bad loss for me now. I was really close to beating him after beating [Rafael] Nadal [in the semifinals].”

Djokovic improved to 39-21 in tour finals, while del Potro dropped to 16-6 career.

Stosur Beats Back Bouchard in WTA Osaka Final

No. 3 seed Sam Stosur stopped No. 5-seeded Canadian Eugenie Bouchard 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the Sunday final of the HP Open in Osaka, Japan.

Stosur won a tight second set before winning four straight games to jump out to a 4-1 lead in the third, eventually running out a 6-2 final set.

“I thought Genie played very well,” Stosur said. “She had game point at 5-all in the second set and went for the drive volley and missed it wide, and then I played a very good service game to win the set — that was probably the turning point.”

It makes the first time that the Australian has won two titles in the same year, and the second time she has won in Osaka. It was the first career WTA final for the teenage Bouchard, who has quickly made the transition from junior to tour play.

“I’ll take the lessons from this and keep working hard,” Bouchard said. “I definitely tried my best today. I feel like I was playing the right way in the first set, but she raised her level in the second set and started playing much better in the third. Sometimes when your opponent plays really well, you just have to congratulate them.”

Kerber Beats Ivanovic in See-saw Linz Final

Top-seeded Angie Kerber defeated former world No. 1 and No. 3 seed Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 7-6(6) for the title at the Generali Ladies Linz in Austria.

Ivanovic fought back from a break down late in the second before both players struggled to close out the set after chances.

Kerber failed to serve it out at 5-4, 40-0, then Ivanovic let two set points slip away serving at 6-5 — then two more set points at 6-4 in the tiebreak before Kerber won four straight points to secure the title.

“At the end I was just focusing point to point and not thinking about the match points I already had,” Kerber said. “I was just trying to stay aggressive in the important moments and I think that was the biggest key to victory at the end. I’m really happy to win my first WTA tournament of the year here.”

It was the third career title for Kerber, who has secured the No. 8 and final spot at the year-end singles championship.