One of the most impressive winning runs in world sport shuddered to a halt under the lights at the o2 last night as the Serb went down 7-5, 6-2 to lose a match at the ATP World Tour finals for the first time since being upset by his countryman Janko Tipsarevic back in 2011.
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To an utter shock and surprise of the audience, the world No 1 Novak Djokovic was beaten in straight sets by tennis legend Roger Federer on Wednesday to secure a berth in the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals.
Djokovic’s last group match will be against winless Tomas Berdych, while Federer will play Kei Nishikori, the Japanese eighth seed who took just two games from Djokovic on day one. His deadly form dipped after a tight first set. “I just had to against Djokovic”. “I’d like to give myself credit for that, quite honestly, yeah”, concluded Federer. The world No. 1 hit back with a break of his own to stay in the match, but Federer re-established his dominance to go 5-2 up before taking his second match point.
“I know it’s a big win”, said Federer.
“I focused more on beating [Tomas] Berdych and [Kei] Nishikori and “let’s see what happens against Novak”.
On Federer’s second match point, Djokovic shot wide and challenged, but the ball was correctly called out as Federer celebrated victory. The best in the world talking about what else but towels? But I made a lot of, unforced errors. Djokovic, who is quickly establishing himself as one of the greatest players, failed to keep his cool facing an usual straight sets defeat, and allowed his opponent to have another break point.
However, 17-time grand slam champion Federer was at his classy best as he made it two wins from two in the group stages with a 7-5 6-2 triumph, booking a semi-final berth in the process.
Percentage of points won on first/second serve: Federer 75/66; Djokovic 51/66.
Federer lost a mere 15 points on serve in 10 service games Tuesday, evidence that he served well.
“You have those days when you are not feeling your best, not even close to the best”.
Despite ending Djokovic’s 15-match winning streak at the venue, Federer reckons he may well have to beat the Serb again at the weekend if he is to claim a seventh ATP Tour Finals title.
Djokovic’s loss to Federer kept Berdych mathematically alive in Group Stan Smith, but it also means the top seed will be eager to make amends for that performance in what could be a must-win situation.
“I didn’t have this follow-through on my shots, no depth, many mistakes”.
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It was not long before Djokovic was at his unrelenting best. All of that will depend on the afternoon showdown between Roger Federer-who has already clinched a semifinal spot-and Kei Nishikori.
