Djokovic beats Schwartzman in his ATP Finals opener

TIL Desk Sports/ World No. 1 Novak Djokovic defeated Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 6-2 in his opening ATP Finals match at the O2 Arena here on Monday. This was his 12th straight victory in opening matches of the tournament.

Djokovic’s only loss in an opening match at this event came in his tournament debut in Shanghai in 2007.”Back in 2007, [it] was my debut in Shanghai and I lost all three matches in the group… I think the format allows you really, even [if] you lose a match, to still have a chance to qualify for semifinals,” Djokovic said after his match that lasted for one hour and 18 minutes.

“You have plenty of motivation in terms of points, in terms of financial incentive. Every match that you win, you get to win 200 points, which is almost as [much as] winning an ATP 250 event. There is plenty of motivation for Diego. I’m sure that he wants to try to play better than he did today,” he added.