Novak Djokovic won the Shanghai Masters after a convincing 6-3 6-4 victory over surprise finalist Borna Coric in China.
Djokovic secured his fourth title at the tournament and in the process moved a step closer to ending the year as world number one.
The Serb extended his winning run to 18 matches in China, following up his successes at Wimbledon, the Cincinnati Masters and US Open.
And he's done it! @DjokerNole is your 2018 Rolex Shanghai Masters champion for the fourth time, defeating @borna_coric 6-3, 6-4. #RolexSHMasters @jpmorgan pic.twitter.com/O5uAQi2qsl
— RolexShMasters (@SH_RolexMasters) October 14, 2018
Coric, who knocked out Juan Martin del Potro and Roger Federer en route to his first ATP Masters series final, matched Djokovic in the early exchanges as the two players traded blow-for-blow on serve.
That was until, however, Djokovic made the breakthrough with a break in the seventh and ninth game to take the first set.
Coric again battled well in the second set and saved three match points at 5-4, with Djokovic uncharacteristically smashing an overhead volley wide.
Simply unstoppable. pic.twitter.com/HzVgNFYy0a
— ATP World Tour (@ATPWorldTour) October 14, 2018
However, the 31-year-old served out for the title, maintaining his record of not dropping serve during the week and becoming just the third player to win a Masters 1000 event without getting broken.
The victory means Djokovic is now just 35 points behind Rafael Nadal in the race to end the year as world number one.
