Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic set up a shootout for both the ATP World Tour Finals title and the year-end No. 1 ranking on Saturday.
The world’s top two players had contrasting wins in the semi-finals at the O2 Arena in London, with Murray surviving a match point to beat Milos Raonic 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (11/9) in 3 hours, 38 minutes, the longest ever three-setter at the ATP World Tour Finals.
Djokovic needed just 66 minutes to dispatch Kei Nishikori 6-1, 6-1.
Photo: AFP
Murray arrived at the tournament simply needing to do better than Djokovic to finish the year as the world No. 1, a position he has held since winning the Paris Masters two weeks ago.
Now, that means winning the final.
“This has never happened in the history of tennis,” Djokovic said of the winner-takes-all match. “I’m privileged to be part of the history. This is one of the biggest matches we will ever play against each other.”
Photo: Reuters
Djokovic might just be in the better shape after overwhelming Nishikori, who held his serve only once all match.
“I pretty much executed everything I tactically planned to do,” Djokovic said. “My level had been going in the right direction. I’m very glad I get to experience this feeling on the court. Now it’s coming up to the last match of the year, the match everybody anticipated.”
After squandering chances while serving for the match twice in the final set, Murray converted on his fourth match point during the tiebreaker to finally come through.
“It was unbelievably tough,” Murray said. “I had to fight very, very hard. Being broken twice serving for the match was frustrating. It was one of the harder matches I’ve played indoors. They are never this long.”
Murray had won all six of his meetings with Raonic this year, including a straight-sets victory in the Wimbledon final.
Murray just needs one last push at the end of a stunning second half to the year, when he won Wimbledon and the Olympics, before topping the rankings for the first time.
“I’m tired,” Murray said. “I’ve played so much tennis the last few months. I’ll just give my best effort tomorrow. It’s going to be tough, obviously, but I’ll give my best shot.”
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