Djoko the warrior oulasts Alcaraz in Cincy epic

Novak Djokovic ripped his shirt off in an unorthodox victory celebration after struggling for nearly four hours to hold off Carlos Alcaraz in a Cincinnati Masters final for the record books.

The 23-time Grand Slam winner collected a hard-fought third title here and grabbed a shed-load of confidence as he finally came through over Spain’s world No. 1 on a fifth match point,  5-7, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4).

Though Alcaraz will remain atop the rankings going into the US Open, Djokovic will be up for another challenge after his fighting victory in draining heat.

“It’s crazy, I don’t know what I can say,” said the Serb who had a doctor visit in the second set due to temperatures around 33 Celsius, but never showed signs of giving in.

“It was the toughest I’ve ever played in my life. From start to finish we both went through highs, lows, incredible points, bad games, heatstroke, comebacks.

“Overall this was the toughest and most exciting match I’ve ever been a part of.

“It’s matches like these that I continue to work for.”

Victory by the 36-year-old Djokovic avenged his Wiimbledon finals loss last month to Alcaraz.

Djokovic now owns 39 Masters 1000 titles after coming through the momentum-shifting battle which remained in doubt until the final point.

Djokovic saved a match point at 5-6 in the second-set tie-breaker as the match went into a deciding third after Alcaraz netted on Djokovic’s second set point.

In the third, Alcaraz was broken in a nine-minute seventh game that featured five break points in what was billed as the best-of-three set final in ATP history.He finally turned the page as Alcaraz netted on a fifth match point.

“I was never in doubt that I could deliver the match when it mattered the most,” the winner said. Carlos is an amazing player, I have tons of respect for him. He is so poised at such a young age.”