Novak Djokovic Wins 11th Edition Of The Mubadala World Tennis Championship

Over the weekend in Abu Dhabi

Posted on

30 December 2018

| Last updated on 31 July 2019

An impressive win for the tennis champion

Novak Djokovic equalled Rafael Nadal's record of four titles at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship over the weekend in Abu Dhabi.

With a hard-fought 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 win over South African world number six, Kevin Anderson, Djokovic takes Mubadala’s title home.

Both players battled it out on the tennis court throughout the match and exchanged powerful baseline rallies that had the crowd whooping with joy.

In a rematch of the recent 2018 Wimbledon final, the Championship decider saw the opening games go on serve before the world number one put Anderson under pressure in the fourth to lead 30-40.

But the South African used his powerful serve to good effect and tied the match at two games all.

Here’s how the match unfolded

Anderson put Djokovic under pressure in the ninth game and broke the Serbian’s serve as the world number one made a few uncharacteristic errors to hand the advantage to the South African.

Anderson followed it up with a comfortable service game and took the opening set 6-4 in 41 minutes.

The second set started off very much like the first and although Djokovic had a breakpoint in the fourth, Anderson once again used his big serves to bail him out and level the set at 2-2.

The next seven games went on serve before Djokovic raised his game and took his first breakpoint in the 11th game to win the second set 7-5.

The Serbian-superstar found himself in a bit of trouble in the third game of the final set and had to dig deep to hold serve to take 2-1.

A forehand winner and two aces – the first on his second serve, was enough for the world number six, Anderson to win his next service game.

In the 10th game, Anderson once again found himself in trouble at 15-40 down - he saved three match points to tie the game at five games apiece.

However, in the 12th game, Anderson found himself 15-40 down and this time the Serbian made no mistake as he took his second match point to seal his fourth title at Abu Dhabi.

After receiving his Championship trophy, Djokovic said: “I’m really happy to have a match like this. Anderson was pumped from the beginning and he got me fired up as well. He wanted to win as much as I did. I could feel the tension between us, two great competitors. I think it was the best match point I’ve ever played!”

“I take a lot of positives from this match, Anderson is one of the best players in the world and has been playing with a high level of consistency. When you play someone like this at this level you want to win. It helps your confidence and adds to your mental strength. Definitely pleased to win today and looking forward to the season,” he added.

Tennis Championship

The three-day MWTC attracted thousands of fans who witnessed high-quality tennis action as the players battled it out for the winner takes all prize of US $250,000.