One of those 21 matches was against Murray, in the semi-finals in Shanghai, where Djokovic dropped just four games.
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Isner faces David Ferrer in the quarter-final.
“There were a couple of periods where I made more mistakes than usual”.
Murray appeared in control after opening up a 3-1 lead.
The peerless Novak Djokovic broke new ground as he retained his Paris Masters title with a straight-sets victory over Andy Murray in the final on Sunday.
But he had a battle on his hands against fifth-seeded Berdych, a victor in Paris 10 years ago when he was just 20.
Djokovic has triumphed in five of his six encounters with Murray this year, including the Australian Open final, and has won 20 of their 29 overall meetings.
The Dunblane ace said: “It would be nice to finish the season as No. 2 in the world because that would be a first for me”. The Swiss star managed to get back into the match as he went on to secure back to back breaks, he was digging deep into his reserves and managed to force a decider whilst saving a number of break back points along the way.
At 7-7, another wide forehand gave Djokovic his first match point but the Serb’s own forehand sailed long. He said: “The final is only a few weeks away so ideally you want to try to put in a good performance”.
“So that kind of was a positive to that, knowing that I can break him most of the time”.
Murray broke again in the first game of the second set to stamp home his authority.
In a frantic day of action, Berdych left the indoor arena to warm applause but with regrets, missing a set point at 6-5 on Djokovic’s serve – his only break point of the first set.
However, he was unable to clinch another Parisian success on Saturday night as Djokovic claimed a 6-3 3-6 6-0 win to advance to his 14th successive final and to the verge of his 10th title of the season.
“At the U.S. Open I won my tiebreaks (against Isner) and here I lost them”, said Federer.
The British number one, who came through a tough examination against Richard Gasquet in the previous round, prevailed 6-4 6-3 against the Spaniard, who could not keep up with the world number three’s relentless hitting.
Murray will play American John Isner or Spain’s David Ferrer in his semi-final.
“I think I got the break back immediately in the third set and that was big, because he was playing the better tennis”, Murray told Sky Sports.
“There are a few matches I feel I could have done a bit better”.
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Murray comfortably held serve to go one set up, though Ferrer was able to break midway through the second for a 3-1 lead.
