Djokovic: after beating Murray in Paris

World number one, Novak Djokovic has won the BNP Paribas Masters  in Paris, brushing  off the challenge by Andy Murray, 6-2, 6-4.

The victory was Djokovic’s 6th  Masters title, a record in the ATP World Tour Masters 1000  title history.

Djokovic, who improved to a staggering 27-4 against Top 10 opponents this year, notched a 26th Masters 1000 title. He pulled level with Ilie Nastase for 10th on the list of Open Era tour-level titlists with his 58th overall crown, bringing home €653,700 in prize money and 1,000 Emirates ATP Rankings points.

“There was couple of games in the second set where Andy started turning things around, so things could have gone different way as they did maybe yesterday against Wawrinka at same stage,” said Djokovic. “But I managed to stay tough. It was, all in all, the best performance of the week, and it came at the right time.

“I’m hoping that I can repeat the kind of performances and success I have had [at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals] in previous years. [The O2 Arena] is a great stage for a tennis tournament.”

Andy Murray: couldn’t fend off Djokovic

Not since No. 1 Stefan Edberg beat No. 2 Boris Becker in 1990 have the Top 2 seeds met for the BNP Paribas Masters title. Djokovic, who extended his winning streak to 22 straight matches, has now won 10 of his past 11 FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings with Murray, owning a 21-9 advantage overall. The two-time defending champion became the first four-time champion in Paris-Bercy history, adding to titles in 2009 (d. Monfils), 2013 (d. Ferrer) and 2014 (d. Raonic).

Murray, meanwhile, was the first British finalist at the BNP Paribas Masters since Tim Henman won the title in 2003. He was bidding to secure the year-end No. 2 spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings by defeating the Serb. He falls to 35-17 in tour-level finals and 11-5 on the Masters 1000 stage, taking home €320,500 and 600 Emirates ATP Rankings points.

“It was a pleasure to play here this week in the beautiful new stadium,” said Murray during the trophy ceremony. “Congratulations to Novak. It’s been a great year for him.

It’s been a great week for me – first time past the quarter-finals. That’s progress and I hope to be back next year.”

*Abridged from  Atptour.com