Indian Wells (California), March 21 (IANS) Serbia’s Novak Djokovic decisively beat Canada’s Milos Raonic 6-2, 6-0 in just an hour and 18 minutes to win the Indian Wells men’s tennis title.
He became the first tennis player to win five such titles in the California desert here on Sunday, reports Efe.
No. 1-ranked Djokovic won his third consecutive Indian Wells championship – having won his first two in 2008 and 2011 – and his 27th Masters 1000 title, pulling even with Spaniard Rafael Nadal’s achievement.
The Serbian had beaten Raonic in all six of their previous encounters.
Meanwhile, Victoria Azarenka handed a stunning defeat to Serena Williams in the women’s final at Indian Wells, triumphing 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and 29 minutes and obtaining her second title in the tourney, the first one coming in 2012.
The 26-year-old Azarenka, takes home a little over $1 million and adds 1,000 points to her women’s singles ranking, moving up to No.8, whereas Williams pockets about $500,000 and 650 ranking points.
The victory enables the Belarussian to return to the top 10 in the rankings for the first time since August 2014. She is the only player to have defeated the 34-year-old Williams in four title matches.
Williams had won 17 of her 20 encounters with Azarenka before Sunday’s match.
