Serbia’s Novak Djokovic poses with his trophy as he celebrates his victory over Britain’s Andy Murray after the Madrid Open men’s tennis final on May 8, 2016 (AFP Photo/Gerard Julien)
MADRID, May 8 – Novak Djokovic claimed a record 29th Masters title when he defeated Andy Murray 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 on Sunday to win the Madrid crown for a second time.
The world number one captured his fifth trophy of 2016 as he defeated defending champion Murray for the 12th time in their last 1ast 13 matches to stand at an overwhelming 23-9 in their career head-to-head.
Djokovic has defeated the world number two Scot in all four of their clay-court meetings as he added the 2016 Madrid trophy to the title he earned five years ago in the Spanish capital.
Murray saved a match point in the eighth game of the deciding set and another in the ninth where he also saw the Serb save seven break points.
The 28-year-old Djokovic has now won 33 of the past 35 sets against top 10 opponents — a stretch of 15 matches.
He’s also won five of the past six and 10 of the past 14 Masters titles.
The Belgrade native won 912,900 euros ($1.04 million) and victory in Rome next week will make him the first man to win $100 million in prize money.
Murray will fall to three in the world in the new rankings on Monday after failing to defend his title.
