Djokovic battles past Musetti to win 101st career title

Novak Djokovic battled from a set down to beat Italian Lorenzo Musetti in the final of the Hellenic Championships in Athens and win the 101st title of his career.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion said he felt “proud” to come through a gruelling three-hour encounter, eventually getting over the line 4-6 6-3 7-5.

Djokovic, 38, shared a long word with Musetti at the net after the second seed fell to a sixth consecutive defeat in finals and missed out on a place at the season-ending ATP Tour finals as a result.

On a day of thrilling tennis on the ATP tour, Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie missed out on a sixth career title as American teenager Learner Tien roared back to claim his first via a deciding set tie-break at the Moselle Open in France.

Thirty-year-old Briton Norrie, who was aiming for his first title in more than two years, produced a gutsy display to battle from a set down, then a break down in the deciding set.

And he led 5-1 in the tie-break before letting 19-year-old Tien back into it with a series of unforced errors, eventually losing 6-3 3-6 7-6 (8-6).

‘An incredible battle, super demanding’
Djokovic is one of just three men to have racked up a century of titles.

The Serb still needs two to equal Roger Federer’s 103, while Jimmy Connors heads the list with 109.

It looked unlikely that he could add to his tally as 23-year-old Musetti’s tireless running and accurate serving helped him to the opening set.

But after recovering to force a decider, Djokovic toughed out the victory, trading service breaks in the 10th and 11th games of the final set before closing it out with a love hold.

“It was an incredible battle, I just, I don’t know,” said the top seed, who, at 38 years and five months, became the oldest tournament winner since Australia’s Ken Rosewall won in Hong Kong in 1977, aged 43.

“Three hours. [It was] a gruelling match physically, super demanding. Lorenzo played really well. It could have been anybody’s game, anybody’s match, so congrats to him for an amazing performance and I just feel very proud of myself to get through this one.”

It was Djokovic’s second title of 2025, having won on the clay of Geneva in May, while Musetti continues his wait for a maiden title after losing in six finals over the last two seasons.

In a double blow, the Italian failed to claim the win he needed to make the ATP Tour Finals in Turin, with Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime taking the final slot.

Djokovic, meanwhile, had already earned his place and has been drawn in a group with world number two Carlos Alcaraz, American Taylor Fritz and Australia’s Alex de Minaur.

(BBC Sport)

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