Djokovic is now 70 points ahead of Murray in the ATP’s “as it stands” rankings, although he already knew winning the tournament would give him the year-end pole position whatever happened against Goffin. Milos had the clear edge in the shortest points (55-41), dominating with his serve and forehand, and he also outclassed his rival in the points that went above 4th shot (20-19) to be a deserved victor in the end.
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Defending champion Novak Djokovic trounced stand-in David Goffin 6-1 6-2 for a clean sweep of his group at the ATP World Tour Finals on Thursday (Friday NZ time) but still looked far from happy as he picked a row with the chair umpire.
The Scot, 29, is trying to win the season-ending finale for the first time, and end the year as world number one. In ATP tournaments, no more than 25 seconds are allowed between points, with the server nearly always setting the pace.
Murray thrashed Raonic 6-2, 6-0 in their quarterfinal clash in the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters, a three set victory in the final of Queen’s and they met a few weeks later in the final of Wimbledon which was Raonic’s first Grand Slam singles final, which Murray won in straight sets but it was a closely contested match.
Djokovic was penalised by umpire Fergus Murphy while preparing to serve following a lengthy point decided by a superb Goffin lob, a decision that continued to anger the former world number one even after his triumph. “I respect that”, Raonic said.
Djokovic then turned to supervisor Tom Barnes and added: “You think that’s okay?”
“Every time that I’m late if I get a so-called soft warning or pre-warning, I’ll accept that and won’t say a word”, Djokovic later told reporters.
“The only thing that they wanted to change is the neutral final, I think for next year or the year after that. nobody agrees with that”, Djokovic said.
“That’s all I’m asking for, to be honest”. I’m not the only one who has that kind of mindset and opinion about this.
He must at least match the performance of Serbia’s Novak Djokovic to retain top ranking.
Goffin stepped in after Gael Monfils pulled out on Wednesday with a rib injury to become the third debutant at this year’s tournament.
Should Djokovic, victor of the event for the past four years, and Murray meet on Sunday, it would be their first clash since Djokovic’s French Open triumph in June.
In the second meeting between Milos Raonic and Dominic Thie, Canadian got better by 7-6 6-3 in an hour and 30 minutes, reaching his first World Tour Finals semi-final.
“As a player all you can wish for is that everything is in your hands”, said Djokovic.
“Everything has been going.in a positive direction”.
“Obviously it’s important to win matches to give yourself the best chance to go through, and 200 points for each match here is quite a lot as well”, said Murray.
Thiem lost the first-set tie break, but this backhand victor to take a 2-1 lead was nevertheless a moment to cherish.
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The big-serving Canadian was always the favourite to join Ivan Lendl group victor Novak Djokovic in the last four, and he fought off a spirited display from the Austrian starlet to triumph 7-6 6-3.
