Novak Djokovic edged a bit closer to the year-end No. 1 ranking on Tuesday.
The Serbian world No. 2 beat Milos Raonic 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/5) to qualify for the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals and improve his record against the Canadian to 8-0.
Djokovic is 2-0 at the season-ending tournament and would retake the top ranking from Andy Murray if he does better this week. Murray is 1-0 so far and was due to play his second match against Kei Nishikori yesterday.
Photo: Reuters
Djokovic never looked at ease in his second match at the O2 Arena in London, but he was able to hang on through two tough tiebreakers to earn the victory.
“It really could have gone either way,” said Djokovic, who completed a career Grand Slam by winning the French Open this year. “I was down very early in both tiebreaks tonight, but I just managed to stay committed and put pressure on his second serves.”
To get to the tiebreakers, Djokovic saved three break points in the first set. He then managed to go up a break twice in the second set, but Raonic responded each time.
Raonic, who reached the Wimbledon final this year, took the lead in both tiebreakers as Djokovic struggled for consistency, but he could not hold on.
“I gave myself some chances there. He played well in most of those chances,” said Raonic, who can still advance to the semi-finals by beating Dominic Thiem today. “Sometimes us tennis players, we struggle to forget, but that’s the No. 1 thing I’ve got to do right now.”
Djokovic earned only 11 winners in the match, compared with Raonic’s 42, but it was still enough to advance and keep him on track to win a record-tying sixth title at the year-end championship.
“All in all, two tiebreaks against a big server is a great win and great confidence boost,” Djokovic said.
In the early match, Thiem went through another second-set letdown, before putting things right to give himself a chance to advance.
The Austrian world No. 8, who is making his debut at the season-ending tournament, held on to beat Gael Monfils 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, making him 1-1 in the round robin stage.
In his opening match on Sunday, Thiem lost to Djokovic after winning the first set. In the second set of that match, he was blanked 6-0.
“I tried to avoid the mistake I did in the first match, to drop a little bit. Didn’t really happen that good, but I was trying to stay tough in the third set,” Thiem said.
“It was a tough one,” said Monfils, who is recovering from a rib injury that forced him out of the Paris Masters at the end of last month. “I think I didn’t play a great match, but I gave everything I had.”
Monfils said he could pull out of his final match against Djokovic today because of the rib injury.
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