Montral, Aug 17 (IANS) British tennis star Andy Murray beat top-ranked Novak Djokovic 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in the Canadian Open final here to snatch his third win at the Canada’s Masters 1000 tournament.
World No.2 Murray, who hasn’t been able to beat Djokovic since the 2013 Wimbledon final, on Sunday needed three hours for a win against the world No.1 on a hot, sweltering day, Efe reported on Monday.
Murray needed to play his best game against the Serb, who was nursing a painful right shoulder, and who was able to square the match but was unable to take it away from Murray.
Murray regained the title that he won in 2009 and 2010 and stopped the winning streak of Djokovic who has already won the Wimbledon, Australian Open and Maters 1000 in Rome, Monte-Carlo, Miami and Indian Wells this year.
The match was Djokovic’s fourth loss of the season.
Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka at Roland Garros, Roger Federer in Dubai, the Croatian Ivo Karlovic in Qatar and of course, Murray, are the only ones to have defeated the world no. 1 this year.
The British player began well, breaking Djokovic in the first set but felt the pressure of playing against the world’s best player, who quickly levelled at 4-4.
Murray, however, recovered to take the next two games and the first set.
Djokovic fought back in the second set to take a 2-0 lead and despite the hot and humid conditions, that took a toll on both players, levelled the match by winning the second set.
The third set had some thrilling moments with Murray dominating and Djokovic putting up a good defense, though not good enough to prevent Murray from pulling ahead 3-0.
The seventh game of the third set lasted 20 minutes, going on to deuce 10 times.
With Murray 5-2 up and serving for the match, Djokovic saved three match points to bring the game to a deuce before Murray sealed the win to add to his titles at Munich, Madrid and Queen’s earlier this year.
