Novak Djokovic topples Marin Cilic in Tel Aviv Open final
ATP
Tennis returned to Israel at the 2022 Tel Aviv Open, and Novak Djokovic dominated it, winning the title after beating Marin Cilic in the final.
The tournament in Tel Aviv had a stable place in the ATP calendar for some time, but since 1999, players haven't competed in Tel Aviv for over two decades. That changed in 2022 with an ATP 250 tournament hosted at the Expo Tel Aviv.
Plenty of interesting players signed up for the tournament, but two names shined brighter than the rest. Novak Djokovic, who doesn't need an introduction, was the top seed in Tel Aviv.
Marin Cilic, who is the 2014 US Open champion, was the second seed in Tel Aviv. Both of them player well throughout the week to find themselves in the final in Israel.
Djokovic beat Pablo Andujar, Vasek Pospisil, and Roman Safiullin without losing a set. Cilic, on the other hand, beat Dominic Thiem and then Constant Lestienne, as Liam Broady withdrew prior to their quarter-final meeting.
The Croatian had to play only two matches to find himself in the final, but he couldn't really trouble his opponent in the fight for the trophy. The 21-time Grand Slam champion dominated the match from start to finish.
Djokovic was the first player to break, and in the opening set of the match, he avoided facing any break points. That was enough for him to win the opening set 6-3.
In the second set, the Serbian player started by breaking his opponent's serve, but this time, he didn't avoid facing a break point himself. Leading 3-2, Djokovic got one point away from losing his one-break lead.
But he handled the situation like the champion that he is, and after that, Djokovic easily cruised towards a two-set win, 6-3, 6-4, to win the title at the 2022 Tel Aviv Open.
