LONDON, November 12 2014: Novak Djokovic is one match win away from becoming year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and is close to qualifying for the semi-finals of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals after winning his second round-robin match in Group B.
Djokovic, the top seed and three-time titlist at the season finale, improved his indoor winning streak to 29 matches with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over third seed Stan Wawrinka at The O2 in London.
Djokovic, who had lost to Wawrinka in the Australian Open quarter-finals in January, is now 17-5 against Top 10 opponents in the Emirates ATP Rankings this year after his 66-minute victory. He improves to a 59-8 match record, as he hunts down his seventh trophy of 2014.
“I definitely didn’t expect it, but hoped that I can play this way again and the match result can go this way for me,” said Djokovic. “Obviously Stan wasn’t feeling his best today, made a lot of unforced errors and had a low percentage of first serves in. On my side, I just played very solid from all over the court. I think I covered the court very well, got a lot of balls back, mixed up the pace, got him off the comfort zone. That’s something that was part of my game plan.
“After I lost the first two games, obviously I didn’t start so great. I thought he played very well the first two games. But, again, I wasn’t frustrated. I kept my calm. After that, it was a really amazing performance.”
Wawrinka started strongly, keeping Djokovic on the back foot. Staring at a 0-2 deficit, Djokovic retaliated by winning 20 of the next 23 points to take a 5-2 lead. Although Djokovic committed 14 unforced errors, five fewer than Wawrinka, his serve did the damage in the 41-minute first set.
Wawrinka won just seven points in the second set. He beat Tomas Berdych in his opening group match on Monday and now meets Marin Cilic, who has a 0-2 round-robin record.
“It was not my best match, that’s for sure,” said Wawrinka. “He’s playing really well. He’s [has] confidence. He’s not missing much. Today I think it was more about what I was doing. He put me in a position that I think a little bit too much. I was not really clear what I’m going to do, because he’s doing everything well and he’s returning well.”
Source: ATP
