TOKYO, October 6, 2019

In his first showing at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, World No. 1 Novak Djokovic claimed the Tokyo title with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Australian qualifier John Millman in Sunday’s singles final. It is the 10th time in Djokovic’s career he has won a title in a tournament debut.

The top seed from Serbia did not drop a set at this ATP 500 event and remained untroubled in the championship match, breaking his opponent’s serve three times to prevail after one hour and nine minutes.

Perfect 🔟@DjokerNole captures the 🏆 in a debut for the 10th time in his career, vanquishing Millman 6-3 6-2 to take home the Tokyo hardware.#rakutenopen pic.twitter.com/UaN05FIsuY

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 6, 2019

“It was a fantastic week in every sense. I felt great on the court, felt very welcomed by the Japanese people, off the court as well. They made me feel like at home,” Djokovic said, quoted by the ATP Tour website. “Didn’t drop a set, played really well, served great. Just overall, a great experience.”

Frenchmen take doubles title

Earlier in the day, Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin took the doubles title. The No. 2 seeds from France defeated the all-Croatian combination of Nikola Mektic and Franko Skugor 7-6(7), 6-4 in one hour and 42 minutes. Mahut and Roger-Vasslin clinched their seventh tour-level trophy as a pair and their first together since Antwerp last year.

“Amazing to have the trophy, an amazing week. From the first day we arrived we played really, really well,” Roger-Vasselin said, quote on the ATP Tour website. “[It was] tough with the jet lag, of course, but on court, off court, we really had a nice, nice week. And of course to have the trophy, you cannot finish better than that.”

Mahut added: “We enjoy playing together so much. Seventeen years later, we’re still here, having a bigger trophy of course in hand. I hope we have many more to come.”