David Ferrer Next up for The World Number One Tennis Player
It was going to take more than John Isner’s famed serve to derail World No. 1 Novak Djokovic at the China Open. The Serb improved to a 27-0 lifetime mark in Beijing as he delivered a masterclass performance to claim a 6-2, 6-2 victory over the towering American on Friday evening. He has now won 23 straight sets in the Chinese capital.( maybe the SMOG Slowed down his serve ?)
Djokovic’s returning prowess limited Isner to just three aces and saw him win 50 per cent of the points on the American’s serve. On his own delivery, Djokovic was flawless, surrendering just nine points and not facing a break point. The top seed rolled to victory in just 52 minutes.
“Today was a great match,” said Djokovic. “Obviously the fact that he served that high of a first percentage of serves in and I managed to break him twice says enough about the quality of the return that I had today. That was the key to winning the match.
“Conditions didn’t help him, didn’t help his serve, even though he was serving around 200 average. But I was managing to pick up balls from each corner on the return. I was feeling like I can get a lot of balls back in play and make him move, which was one of the intentions tactically in order to be successful today.”
The 28-year-old Djokovic is looking to win this ATP World Tour 500 trophy for the sixth time, following victories in 2009-10 and 2012-14. The Belgrade native is chasing his seventh title of 2015, the year he claims has been his best ever on the ATP World Tour. He has already clinched the year-end World No. 1 spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings for the fourth time in five years and will defend his title at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals from 15-22 November.
Djokovic goes on to face fourth seed David Ferrer, who dismissed wild card Yen-Hsun Lu6-3, 6-1 in 77 minutes. Djokovic takes a 15-5 FedEx ATP Head2Head advantage over Ferrer into their semi-final clash, having won their past nine meetings.
The 33-year-old Ferrer’s performance this week has solidified his place at No. 8 in the Emirates ATP Race To London, as he looks to clinch his place in the eight-man field at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. The Spaniard is on a seven-match winning streak, having captured his fourth ATP World Tour title of the season last week at the Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur (d. Lopez).
Ferrer is bidding to reach the Beijing final for the second time, following a runner-up finish to Djokovic in 2010.
( Courtesy of the ATP and Original Link – http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/djokovic-soars-into-beijing-2015-semifinals )
Topics: Atp World Tour, Beijing Tennis, China Open, David Ferrer, John Isner, Novak Djokovic, Sports, Tennis News
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