Third-seeded Novak Djokovic scrambled to a 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (3) victory over local favorite Gael Monfils on Sunday to win the Paris Masters for the first time.
The victory gave Djokovic back-to-back ATP Tour titles after his win over top-ranked Roger Federer in the Swiss Indoors final last Sunday.
The third-ranked Djokovic also beat World No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the semifinals in Paris and will be a strong favorite when he’ll try to defend his title at the eight-man ATP World Tour Finals from Nov. 22-29 in London.
The former Australian Open winner fell on his knees and screamed on the center court when Monfils double-faulted on the first match point to give Djokovic his 16th career title.
Losing only three points on his serve in the first set, Djokovic pumped his fist when he took a 5-2 lead with a forehand winner down the line. He won the set in the next game when Monfils hit his first double-fault.
But Djokovic made 21 unforced errors in the second set and Monfils finally gave his supporters something to cheer by converting his first break point of the match in the fifth game after Djokovic missed an easy backhand volley.
Monfils then leveled at 3-3 and kept the pressure on Djokovic, failing to convert three other chances to break before taking the Serb’s service with a return winner for a 6-5 lead.
In the final set, Djokovic broke in the fourth game with a little help from Monfils, who lost his serve with his third double-fault of the match. Djokovic also double-faulted on Monfils’ break point in the seventh game and the 15th-seeded Frenchman leveled at 4-4 and eventually force a tiebreaker
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