RICKY DIMON REPORTS FROM LONDON BARCLAYS MEN’S TENNIS FINALS @02 ARENA

Written by: Staff on 12th November 2014

RICKY DIMON REPORTS FROM LONDON BARCLAYS MEN'S TENNIS FINALS @02 ARENA

epa04487264 Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns the ball against Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland during their Round Robin match for the ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 12 November 2014. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA |

World Tour Finals bloodbath continues as Djokovic dominates Wawrinka

Singles match after singles match at the World Tour Finals has been a straight-set beatdown. Any one involving Novak Djokovic is not a particularly good candidate to end the trend. The top-ranked player in the world is simply playing too well overall, too well at this particular event, and too well indoors.

Djokovic, who routed Marin Cilic in his opener on Monday, rolled over Stan Wawrinka 6-3, 6-0 on Wednesday night. The eventual winner earned 12 of the match’s last 13 after starting slow and falling behind 2-0. He needed just one hour and five minutes to improve to 2-0 this week in London and all but clinch a spot in the semifinals.

Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland returns the ball against Novak Djokovic of Serbia during their Round Robin match for the ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 12 November 2014. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

After slumping through the previous fall tournaments, Wawrinka showed signs of getting back on track by disposing of Tomas Berdych 6-1, 6-1 in his London opener. The Swiss seemed to be maintaining that momentum when he converted his third break point in the first game against Djokovic then held another deuce game for 2-0. That, however, proved to be the last gasp of success for Wawrinka.

Djokovic completely dominated the rest of the way. The top-ranked Serb reeled off 21 of 24 points during a stretch of first-set dominance and he surrendered a mere seven points in the entire second frame of play. Wawrinka’s only game in the last 13 played came when he held for 3-5 in the opener and even then he had to fight off a break point. The underdog did not win a single game in the entire match without going to deuce.

Wawrinka’s statistics were perhaps even worse than the scoreline. He served at only 49 percent, won one of seven net points, committed 30 unforced errors, and saw his backhand go off the rails to the tune of one winner and 13 errors.

“(It) was not my best match, that’s for sure,” Wawrinka said. “Also because he’s playing really well. He’s not missing much. Today I think it was more about what I was doing. He put me in a position that I [was thinking] a little bit too much. I’m not really clear what I’m going to do, because he’s doing everything well and he’s returning well. The serve was not good enough. Then I [started to make mistakes] because here the conditions are really low. His ball is always coming to me and I cannot really mix the spin and try to get higher ball to try to attack him.”

Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns the ball against Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland during their Round Robin match for the ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 12 November 2014. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

Djokovic put in 71 percent of his first serves, fired three aces without double-faulting, and won a whopping 16 of 20 points when he made his way into the net.

The recent Beijing champion has won seven consecutive matches and is 15-1 since the U.S. Open. He has captured the year-end championship title in consecutive years and and is now on a 12-match winning streak at this event.

“I didn’t start so great,” he reflected after beating Wawrinka. “I thought he played very well the first two games. After that, (it) was a really amazing performance.”

Great performances by one player have coincided by sub-par showings by others, making for an almost hard-to-believe eight straight-setters in eight contested matches so far at the World Tour Finals. Only one set has progressed to a tiebreaker (Milos Raonic vs. Roger Federer), in which Raonic did not win a single point.

“Obviously I can’t speak in the name of the other players, so I don’t know how they feel on the court,” Djokovic said when asked about the lopsided scores. “Since it’s the tournament of the best eight players in the world, people, fans, the crowd expect to see a little bit more excitement and longer matches. So far we [haven’t had] any three‑setters. I think that’s going to change as the tournament progresses.”

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: 02 Arena, ATP World Tour Finals, London, Novak Djokovic, Ricky Dimon, Stan Wawrinka, Tennis

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10sBalls_com says:

November 12, 2014 at 5:52 pm

RICKY DIMON REPORTS FROM #LONDON #BARCLAYS MEN’S #TENNIS FINALS @02 ARENA- http://t.co/GzJBx117Vj @RD_Tennistalk #ATPWorldTourFinals
RD_Tennistalk says:

November 12, 2014 at 5:54 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: RICKY DIMON REPORTS FROM #LONDON #BARCLAYS MEN’S #TENNIS FINALS @02 ARENA- http://t.co/GzJBx117Vj @RD_Tennistalk #ATPWorl…