Novak Djokovic will face Andy Murray for the honour of being the year-end world number one in the final of ATP World Tour Finals after decimating Kei Nishikori 6-1 6-1 on Saturday.
Djokovic was displaced by Murray at the top of the rankings when Milos Raonic pulled out of his semi-final with the Briton at the Paris Masters this month, but he has started to find his form again at the season-ending showpiece in London.
And the 12-time grand slam champion made light work of Nishikori at the O2 Arena, surging through in a little over an hour to leave only Murray standing between him and a sixth Tour Finals crown, as well as a return to the summit of men's tennis.
After a routine hold for Djokovic and a brief interruption as a spectator attempted to run onto the court, the Serb quickly established his command, Nishikori double-faulting when break-point down to hand him a 2-0 down.
Djokovic had no issues consolidating that break and the scoreline soon turned ugly for Nishikori when a scorching forehand return from the world number two made it 4-0.
He could not find the same magic with his forehand in the next game, sending one into the net as Nishikori broke to get on the board.
But the errors mounted for the Japanese and Djokovic capitalised to wrap up the set.
And the writing was soon on the wall for Nishikori, a series of punishing groundstrokes enabling Djokovic to break again in the opening game of the second.
As in the first set, Djokovic raced into a 4-0 lead, but Nishikori briefly stemmed the tide. Yet the respite was short-lived as Djokovic held to love and then broke for a sixth time with another magnificent forehand to seal triumph in 66 minutes, delivering a statement of intent ahead of an enticing final match of the year with Murray.
No comments:
Post a Comment