DJOKOVIC MAKES QUICK WORK OF GOFFIN, BRYAN BROTHERS SECURE SEMIFINAL SPOT AT BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR FINALS

Written by: Staff on 17th November 2016

DJOKOVIC MAKES QUICK WORK OF GOFFIN, BRYAN BROTHERS SECURE SEMIFINAL SPOT AT BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR FINALS

epa05635068 Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns the ball to David Goffin of Belgium during their men's singles match at the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 17 November 2016. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA |

By Ricky Dimon

David Goffin won the first two points he ever played at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals without hitting a single shot.

It went downhill fast once he actually had to start using his racket.

Novak Djokovic turned in an efficient performance to cruise past the alternate 6-1, 6-2 in just one hour and nine minutes on Thursday. Djokovic saved the only break point he faced and benefited from 21 unforced errors by Goffin while improving his record this week to a perfect 3-0.

The world No. 2 opened his final round-robin match with two double-faults, but he won four straight points to hold in the first game and he mostly cruised the rest of the way. Goffin did not generate a break chance until the final game of the afternoon, but Djokovic fought it off with a well-placed first serve. The Serb sealed the deal four points later.

“Regardless of who is across the net,” Djokovic said, “I knew what I had to do–raise the level of performance, which I did today. I’m very glad that my game is going in the right direction. Today I felt the most comfortable, definitely, so far in the tournament.”

Goffin never got comfortable after suddenly replacing Gael Monfils, who withdrew on Wednesday night because of a rib injury. Monfils, also making his year-end championship debut, lost his first two matches of the event to Milos Raonic and Dominic Thiem.

“When you know just the evening before that you have to play, and you have to play against Novak–who won two matches already–and he’s in the competition,… (it’s) not easy,” the 11th-ranked Belgian assured. “But I tried to do my best. I didn’t feel really well; I didn’t feel the rhythm. My groundstrokes–my best weapons–were not there. It’s not easy against Novak when it’s like that.”

David Goffin of Belgium returns the ball to Novak Djokovic of Serbia during their men’s singles match at the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 17 November 2016. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

Djokovic is through to the semifinals as the No. 1 seed out of Group B, but his Saturday opponent will not be determined until tomorrow. Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, and Kei Nishikori are all in the mix.

“Let’s see what happens tomorrow,” Djokovic noted. “I’m going to obviously have my team watch the matches and see who I play against and then prepare.”

Bob and Mike Bryan can start preparing for the weekend, as well–also against a yet-to-be-determined adversary. They clinched their spot in the doubles semis by defeating Max Mirnyi and Treay Huey 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday afternoon. The Bryan brothers saved all three of the break points they faced before prevailing in only 59 minutes.

Three teams–The Bryans, Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, plus Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo–could finish with 2-1 records in Group B round-robin competition. If Dodig and Melo beat Murray and Soares in straight sets on Thursday night, all three would also be 4-2 in sets. It is a mathematical certainty, however, that the Bryan brothers will be among the top two in percentage of games won.

The Bryans won the World Tour Finals in 2014 before losing in last year’s semifinals to eventual champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau.