Djokovic humbles Federer in Rome Masters final
Top-seed beats Federer in straight sets to take winning streak to 22; Sharapova rallies to win women’s title.
Top-seed Novak Djokovic bolstered his clay-court credentials a week ahead of Roland Garros with a convincing 6-4, 6-3 win over Roger Federer to capture his fourth Rome Masters title.
Extending his winning streak to 22 matches, Djokovic proved too consistent and too quick for Federer, who has never won the title at the Foro Italico in 15 appearances.
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The match lasted just 75 minutes.
“It was a great week and today was my best match,” Djokovic told the crowd in Italian.
“It’s always a pleasure to play against Roger and obviously I’m very pleased by today.
“Along with 2011, this is the best year of my career. I don’t know how (to) continue at Roland Garros but obviously I have a lot of confidence. I hope I can continue like this.”
Sharapova wins women’s crown
Earlier, Russian Maria Sharapova ground down Carla Suarez Navarro 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 to win the women’s title, the 35th WTA Tour title of her career.
Third-seed Sharapova looked slugging against her Spanish opponent in the first set and Suarez Navarro fought back from 1-3 and 3-5 down in the second to level at 5-5.
But Sharapova reeled off the next two games and tore through the decider against the tiring 10th seed, sealing victory in more than two and a half hours with her 39th winner.
“I remember coming to Italy as a little girl and this was one of the tournaments I dreamed of playing,” Sharapova said.
“Now to win it for a third time is very special.”
Sharapova’s first two titles in Rome came back-to-back in 2011 and 2012.