TENNIS ATP PARIS – Novak Djokovic, who is playing his first tournament as a father after the birth of his son Stefan, sealed a well-deserved win over Andy Murray with 7-5 6-2 in the third quarter final to secure his spot in the semifinal of the BNP Paribas Master 1000 at the Palais Omnisport in Paris Bercy. Djokovic set up a semifinal match against Kei Nishikori who battled past David Ferrer with 3-6 7-6 6-4 after losing the first set. It will be a re-match of this year’s US Open semifinal won by Nishikori. Diego Sampaolo
The first set went on serve until the 12th game at 6-5 for Djokovic. The Serbian player, who won the Paris Bercy title twice in 2009 and 2013, finally edged Murray when he broke serve in the 12th game to seal the win in the first set with 7-5.
Murray saved break points at 0-1 before breaking serve in the third game to take the 2-1 lead but Djokovic broke straight back to draw level to 2-2 before reeling off five consecutive games. Djokovic held serve in the next game before breaking in the sixth game to pull away to a 4-2 lead before reeling off the next two games. Djokovic wrapped up the second set with 6-2 after 1 hour and 41 minutes when Murray sent a forehand into the net. Djokovic now leads 15-8 in his head-to-head matches against Murray.
Djokovic has won his 25th indoor match in a row. His last defeat indoors dates back to his shock loss against Sam Querrey in Paris Bercy in 2012.
Murray played a great first set but he began feeling tiredness in the second set as he was playing his 23rd match over the past six weeks seeking for points to qualify for the ATP Finals in London. The effort paid off as Murray won three titles in Shenzhen, Vienna and Valencia booking his berth for the O2 Arena.
Djokovic has won six of the last seven matches against Murray, including all their four head-to-head matches (all in hard court tournaments) played this year in the Miami quarter finals (7-5 6-3), in the US Open quarter finals (7-6 6-7 6-2 6-4) and in the Beijing semifinals (6-3 6-4). Murray scored his last win over Djokovic in the 2013 Wimbledon final.
The defeat in the French capital has put an end to Murray’s streak of 11 consecutive match wins. He will have a week of rest ahead of the ATP Finals which start on 9th November.
Djokovic will be looking to win his sixth title of the year including three Master 1000 wins in Indian Wells, Miami and Rome, a Grand Slam at Wimbledon and a ATP 500 in Beijing His win over Murray and the defeat of Roger Federer against Milos Raonic have boosted Djokovic’s hopes to end the year as the World Number 1 player. If he wins the title in Bercy and at least three matches at the ATP Finals he will end the year at the top of the ranking. Djokovic leads by 490 points in the ATP Race and could add 830 points if he defends his Paris title. However Federer has not given up all his hopes.
Finishing the year at the top would be the prize for his consistency during the year in which he has reached the semifinal in 10 of his 12 tournaments since his defeat in the quarter finals at the Australian Open against Stan Wawrinka.
If Djokovic wins in Paris, he will tie his coach Boris Becker who won this tournament three times.
“The first set was very close. It was very important to win the first set. I had a few break point opportunities and held my service games pretty well. Then I got a crucial break at the end of the first set. He was a break up in the second set but then he hit some double faults and allowed me back in. After that, I started swinging through and felt much better. I knew I had played seven weeks in a row trying to qualify for the ATP Finals. I felt I had a little edge over him physically and could take my opportunities when presented”, said Djokovic.
Nishikori d. Ferrer 3-6 7-6 6-4
Kei Nishikori fought back from a set down to battle past 2012 Paris Bercy champion David Ferrer in three sets with 3-6 7-6 6-4 after two hours and 43 minutes in a marathon match which ended at 12.35 local time. With this win the Japanese player has booked his berth for the ATP Finals in London becoming the first Japanese player to achieve this goal. As a result of Nishikori’s win over Ferrer, Milos Raonic has also secured his spot for London for the first time
Today’s quarter final was the 8th head-to-head match between Nishikori and Ferrer. They are tied 4-4. Nishikori won all three matches played this year in three Master 1000 Tournaments in Miami, Madrid and Paris Bercy. All three matches came down to the third set: 7-6 2-6 7-6 in Miami and 7-6 5-7 6-3 in Madrid
Nishikori won the first two games of the first set racing to 2-0 but Ferrer reeled off six of the next seven games to clinch the first set with 6-3. Nishikori broke serve in the second set and served for the second set at 5-4 but Ferrer broke back. The second set came down to the tie-break where Ferrer came just two points from clinching the win when he was leading 5-2 but Nishikori reeled off five points with a series of winners in a row to win the tie-break with 7-5 with a big serve to force the match to the decider. In the third set Nishikori got the crucial break at 4-4 before serving out for the match to seal a well-deserved win after a long marathon match.
Nishikori completes the eight-men field for the ATP Finals by becoming the third player to qualify for the end-of the-year tournament together with Raonic and Cilic. Ferrer will miss the ATP Finals for the first time after four consecutive years. Nishikori’s coach Michael Chang played at the Masters seven times in his career.
After reaching the milestone to become the first Asian player to reach a Grand Slam final at the US Open, Nishikori has achieved another big goal in his amazing season in which he won four tournaments in Memphis, Barcelona, Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo and reached the semifinals in Madrid where he came close to beating Rafa Nadal but he was hampered by a back injury.
Nishikori met Djokovic three times and won twice in the US Open semifinal this year and in Basel Indoors in 2011. The big question is how Nishikori has recovered from his marathon match against Ferrer.
“Kei is playing the season of his life. He played final of this year’s US Open and won against me in the semifinal, so I know how well he can play”, said Djokovic about tomorrow’s semifinal.
Nishikori is among the four nominees for the ATP Most Improved Player of the Year Award together with Marin Cilic, Roberto Bautista Agut and Nick Kyrgios. The winner will be selected by the players and will be announced during the ATP Finals in London. He was nominated for the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award alongside Roger Federer, Marin Cilic and Grigor Dimitrov.
