1 Novak Djokovic rolled over Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-1, 6-1 at the Barclays tennis World Tour Finals in London. The No. 3 seed is the only player to hold two wins this season against Djokovic.
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World number one and defending champion Djokovic went through to the last eight in the final tournament of the ATP’s regular season with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Gilles Simon that took his unbeaten run to 19 matches.
“I thought I didn’t play badly – I had great points with groundstrokes”. Nishikori had previously won two of the pair’s six meetings on tour, including a shock semi-final victory at last year’s US Open, but he never got a look-in here.
Berdych did give Djokovic a tough challenge at the Paris Masters earlier in November, and the big man from the Czech Republic has the kind of powerful serve that can negate the Serb’s impeccable return game.
This was a mature performance from Djokovic, who also spoke movingly on the subject of the Syrian refugee crisis, having seen first hand how many are passing through his native Serbia.
The Czech suffered a 6-4 6-2 loss to Roger Federer on Sunday, leaving him with a 0-1 win-loss record in Group Stan Smith.
A hard-fought set swung Federer’s way when an error-strewn service game from Berdych gifted him a decisive second break at 4-4.
All four victories were engineered by the “Big Four” of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, with the losing players totaling a combined 21 games. I know he can play better.
There is a little way to go yet, but their 7-6, 3-6, (11-9) win over Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolelli – the first match of the tournament – set the ball rolling nicely.
“I wouldn’t have picked it maybe before the tournament, just because of his really good record on the indoors, the year he’s had”, said Federer, who lost to Djokovic in the Wimbledon and U.S. Open finals.
“Thankfully I reacted quickly and was able to dominate the baseline eventually, which is clearly really important on this surface here in London”.
Nishikori knew he’d been well beaten: “Today I couldn’t do anything…I didn’t feel any chance today”.
The world No 1 has won 23 matches in succession since and could stretch that streak further tonight, but Federer does manage to upset his Zen-like rhythm as much as anyone.
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Djokovic beat Nishikori in his first match, and will face Berdych on Thursday for a spot in the semifinals. “I’m very ashamed with this score”, second-time qualifier Nishikori, who will hope for a better showing in his next two round robin matches, said.
