Novak Djokovic And Simona Halep Lead Winners At 2016 Madrid Open

Novak Djokovic beat out defending champion, Scotland’s Andy Murray, in the Madrid Open final Sunday to earn his second career title in the Spanish capital. Djokovic’s first Madrid title came in 2011.

Novak Djokovic And Simona Halep Lead Winners At 2016 Madrid Open

Djokovic, the World Number One, defeated 28-year-old Scotsman 6-2 3-6 6-3. Murray has now lost his World Number Two ranking to Roger Federer, who recently withdrew due to a back injury. 

The Serb trounced Murray in the opening set, but fought back to level, only to fall to Djokovic in the decider. Djokovic, 28, now moves ahead of Spaniard Rafael Nadal with a record 29 ATP Masters 1000 titles. This was also his fifth title in the past six Masters tournaments.

“The first couple of break points I remember making two mistakes,” said Murray. “It was kind of back and forth from there and unfortunately I couldn’t quite break, which was a shame because both of us on the break points until that last game were pretty clinical.”

Despite losing, Murray fought hard against the Serb, playing him for over two hours in three tight sets. He has now lost 11 of his last 12 games against Djokovic, and slips into the No. 3 ranking.

Nadal lost his momentum with a semifinal loss to Murray, which may have just stripped him of any realistic chance of defeating Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka for the French Open No. 4 seed. The Spaniard dropped 240 points by failing to get back to the Madrid final, and he trails the Swiss by 705 points.  Nadal could potentially face Djokovic again as soon as the French Open quarterfinals.

Wawrinka lost his only Madrid match in consecutive tiebreakers against 21-year-old Australian Nick Kyrgios. Australian Bernard Tomic, 23, also lost in his only game at Madrid to Italian Fabio Fognini. However, Tomic seemed to shrug off the loss and pointed to the amount of income he’s earned.

Per the Gold Coast Bulletin (h/t Sky Sports), Tomic said: “I don’t care about that match point—would you care if you were 23 and worth over 10 million dollars?”

On the women’s side, somewhat-forgotten Romanian star Simona Halep, 24, surprisingly stormed to win at Madrid, displaying some of her best tennis in a long time. Halep defeated resurgent Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova, 27, in the Women’s Singles finals on Saturday, 6-2, 6-4.

Halep, ranked No. 7 before this tournament, did not seem to be going very far. She had peaked as the 2014 French Open finalist and held the No. 2 ranking for most of 2015, but appeared to have been forgotten soon afterwards. Other stars like Garbine Muguruza, Angelique Kerber, Agnieszka Radwanska and Victoria Azarenka grabbed more wins and acclaim. With Saturday’s win, Halep has now marked herself as a strong contender for the French Open, Roland Garros, which begins May 22.

“I’m really happy I could win this trophy, it’s very special for me,” said Halep. “It’s amazing for me to be able to speak to you for a second time on this court. It’s an unbelievable feeling. It’s the best day in my life.”

The Romanian made a great start against Cibulkova, surging to a 5-1 opening lead and then fighting off break points when the Slovakian threatened to make a comeback.

Meanwhile, Serena Williams was hit with the flu prior to the start, and Azarenka withdrew during the tournament. Radwanska, Muguruza and Kerber all lost early.

PHOTO: KEY BISCAYNE, FL – APRIL 03: Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns a shot to Kei Nishikori of Japan during the final on Day 14 of the Miami Open presented by Itau at Crandon Park Tennis Center on April 3, 2016 in Key Biscayne, Florida. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)