But, with his tournament survival on the line, Djokovic could take comfort from winning 20 of his previous 22 meetings with Berdych, including their last seven matches and all four of their Tour Finals encounters. But a strong-willed and fit Federer produced the goods when it mattered most, breaking Nishikori in the tenth game for game, set and match.
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Novak Djokovic brushed past his old rival Rafael Nadal this afternoon to reach the final of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
Federer will play either Andy Murray or Stanislas Wawrinka who complete the round-robin matches in the Ilie Nastase group on Friday. Berdych on the other hand had yet to pick up a victory and only won a single set which was against Nishikori.
This year after five days of competition there have again only been two three-set matches, and the trend has been for a competitive first set to be followed by a whitewash in the second, such as Murray’s 6-4 6-1 loss to Nadal.
Djokovic, victor of three Grand Slam titles this year and bidding to win the Tour Finals for a record fourth successive year, is likely to face a stern test of his credentials today from Nadal. “It could be important to a few people, but I think for us personally the tournament is way more important than the rankings at this point”.
Then he blew a 4-1 lead to lose the second set 4-6.
Federer dominated the earlier parts of the first two sets to take leads, but allowed the Japanese to come back sharply. Three more are 28 or over, and relative youngster Kei Nishikori turns 26 next month.
Despite a calf injury that forced him to withdraw from Wimbledon and pain in his left side and shoulder that sidelined him for parts of the fall, Nishikori managed to remain among the world’s top 10.
“He plays in a very good surface for him”.
So Djokovic found himself in the most unexpected place.
Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic made headlines on Thursday – not with their impressive performances, but because of bad blood that is reportedly brewing between the two tennis superstars. He strung together a series of service holds, but he was never able to put any pressure on the Djokovic serve, and indeed did not bring up any break points in the match. Djokovic magnificently had his opponent on a piece of string like a puppet before lobbing him – he then tried a repeat, Nadal returned with a hot-dog shot, and Djokovic volleyed it back past him.
Djokovic said: “It’s a fact that he’s been playing better and he’s been raising his level ever since the US Open, I think”.
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When Berdych’s serve was breached again at the start of the second set it appeared that Djokovic would stroll to the semis, but he was briefly stopped in his tracks as a booming forehand earned a break back for his defiant foe. The straight sets victory that Berdych needed for progression was now out of the question.
