LONDON: Novak Djokovic started his bid for a third successive ATP Tour Finals title with a sublime 6-1, 6-1 victory over Marin Cilic at London’s O2 Arena here on Monday.

Djokovic took just 57 minutes to thrash US Open champion Cilic as the world number one extended his winning run at indoor events to 28 matches, a streak that includes 11 consecutive victories at the Tour Finals.

The Serb, who has already triumphed in London at Wimbledon earlier this year, is bidding to become the first man to win the Tour Finals three times in a row since Ivan Lendl from 1985 to 1987.

Djokovic arrived in London in buoyant mood after celebrating the birth of his first child, a boy named Stefan, by winning the Paris Masters without dropping a set earlier this month.

He has the additional motivation of knowing if he wins all three of his group matches he will be guaranteed to hold off Roger Federer in the race to finish the year on top of the world rankings.

The 27-year-old had won all 10 of his previous meetings with Cilic, including a five-set victory in this year’s Wimbledon quarter-finals, and once again the Croatian had no way of stopping his rival.

Cilic is capable of using his height advantage to overpower opponents with his booming serves.

But in Djokovic he faced one of the greatest returners of all time and the Serb wasted little time neutralising Cilic’s biggest weapon as he broke serve in the third game.

On the few occasions Cilic managed to get into a prolonged rally, the champion’s flawless groundstrokes invariably overwhelmed the Croat and he was broken again in the fifth game as Djokovic took the first set.

Djokovic broke in the second game of the second set thanks to another tremendous piece of defensive play.

In the next game Cilic finally earned his first break point and he converted with a powerful forehand. But Djokovic’s lull didn’t last long and another break, secured via an off-target Cilic forehand, brought a 3-1 lead that effectively ended the contest.

Monday’s results: Singles:

Group ‘A’:

Stan Wawrinka (SUI x3) bt Tomas Berdych (CZE x6) 6-1, 6-1 ; Novak Djokovic (SRB x1) bt Marin Cilic (CRO x8) 6-1, 6-1.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2014