Novak Djokovic remained on course for a record-tying sixth ATP Tour Finals title after a 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (8/6) victory over Taylor Fritz in Turin on Saturday. Djokovic brushed off his bruising meeting with Daniil Medvedev the day before to lead the semifinal against the ninth-seeded American. The 35-year-old Serbian will compete against the winner of the second semi-final between Andrey Rublev and Casper Ruud. Victory in Sunday’s final means he equals Roger Federer’s streak of six wins in this season’s eight-best player tournament.
“I had to fight to survive,” said Djokovic, who has now reached the finals of the season-ending event eight times, last winning in 2015.
“I didn’t feel very reactive or very comfortable. I knew coming into today’s game after yesterday’s grueling fight against Medvedev, it would take me some time to adapt and find the dynamic movement which I need against Fritz, who is one of the best servers on the Tour.”
Djokovic has now defeated 25-year-old Fritz in all six of their encounters.
“I’m very upset about the game, more so about the things that happen in a game that I can’t control,” said the American, who entered the Masters tournament for the first time after benefiting from the withdrawal of number one of the world Carlos Alcaraz.
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“But I’m sure I’ll look back in two weeks and say, yeah, like it was a great week.
“Not only did I get the chance to play the World Tour Finals, I came out of the group and got two good wins.
“I think my conclusion is that when Novak has played, he has been the best player.
“There’s no question about that. If he hasn’t played, which is a good part of the year, we’ve seen a lot of different results because if you take him out, I think everyone who plays is extremely close. The level.
“There are 15 to 20 people who can all beat each other on any given day given the circumstances. That’s the reason for a lot of these different results, different people winning. It’s just how it happens.”
Djokovic will aim for his second major title of the year, after Wimbledon, after missing a significant portion of the season, including the Australian Open and the US Open, due to his refusal to take the covid vaccine.
The Serb held on largely thanks to the efficiency of his serve — he won 85 percent of the points he earned on his first serve in the first set and 75 percent throughout the match, and his ability to deliver the fatal blow at the right moment. to administer.
Fritz didn’t make many mistakes, but all of them were heavily penalized.
Chasing after Rome, Wimbledon, Tel Aviv and Astana for his fifth Tour title of the season, Djokovic now has a career-high 45-17 record at the ATP Finals, winning in 2008 in Shanghai and in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 in London).
“I’m very happy to be able to compete for another major trophy, one of the biggest we have in our sport,” said Djokovic.
“Hopefully I can play at the level where I played most games this week and take a trophy.”
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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