Novak Djokovic is one step closer to his 100th career ATP title after a 6-4 7-6(6) victory over Taylor Fritz.
The Serb is into his third final of the season after a straight sets win over the American, which extends his record over Fritz to 10-0 in the head-to-head series.
However it wasn’t all smooth for Djokovic who had to save a set point in the tiebreak as well as having a medical time-out during the second set.
In his quarter-final against Jakub Mensik, Djokovic struggled with a knee injury and the same applied during this match.
After the contest Djokovic admitted it wasn’t easy dealing with his physical limitations, “It always takes it out of me, these kinds of battles, but particularly towards the end of the tournament,” Djokovic revealed to the ATP website.
“At this stage of my career, I’m doing my best to recover and I had some issues here and there on the court, physically, yesterday and today. But I managed to overcome it. It was a stern test. Taylor is in form, playing probably the best tennis of his life coming off a Grand Slam final, and he’s playing really well particularly on this surface.
“He’s serving big, so I knew it was going to be a big test for me. I did not want to get to a third set, and I’m just glad to overcome in two.”
There’s more good news for Djokovic as he boosted his chances of qualifying for the ATP Finals as he overtook Casper Ruud, moving into sixth place in the live standings.
Now the Serb will aim for a record-breaking 41st Masters 1000 title when he takes on world number one Jannik Sinner in Sunday’s final.
