Djokovic And Murray March On In Paris Day 4 Highlights
Djokovic And Murray March On In Paris Day 4 Highlights
Nov042016
Berdych to face Simon on Thursday
Local favourite and No. 11 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga trailed fifth seed Kei Nishikori for the majority of their third-round match at the BNP Paribas Masters, but showed remarkable fighting spirit to save two match points and prevail on Thursday in Paris, 0-6, 6-3, 7-6(3).
Next up for the Frenchman is fourth seed Milos Raonic, a three-set winner earlier in the day over No. 16 seed Pablo Cuevas. Their FedEx ATP Head2Head series is tied at 2-2, but the Canadian has won their past two matches.
Nishikori needed just 22 minutes to shut out Tsonga in the opening set, marking the first time the Frenchman lost a set 0-6 since last year’s Masters 1000 event in Shanghai (vs. Nadal). But Tsonga rebounded strongly by grabbing the break of serve in the second set to level the match.
The Japanese star broke Tsonga at 4-3 and held two match points on his serve in the next game, but the Frenchman erased them with gutsy tennis and eventually forced a final-set tie-break. Tsonga went on a four-point run to lead 4/1 and closed out the contest with his second match point in exactly two hours.
Fittingly, Tsonga also prevailed after receiving his last 0-6 set against Nadal in Shanghai.
The Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London came to an end on Thursday as the last of eight spots available at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals was claimed by Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi. Huey/Mirnyi lost in the first round of the BNP Paribas Masters earlier this week, but secured their first team qualification when defending London champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau fell in the second round of Paris.
Joining Mirnyi/Huey at the O2 on 13 November will be Frenchmen Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, who reclaimed the No. 1 spot from London qualifiers Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Martin Klizan and Joao Sousa in the second round in Paris.
Also present at the year-end showdown will be four-time champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, Roland Garros doubles champions Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez, 2014 finalists Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo, Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram, and Henri Kontinen and John Peers. Five of the eight teams are first-time qualifiers.
Rojer/Tecau, who won the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals last year, saw their season come to a close after falling to Nicholas Monroe and Jack Sock 2-6, 6-3, 10-7. Melo, who is playing with Vasek Pospisil in Paris, moved into the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Philipp Kohlschreiber and Dominic Thiem.
World No. 1 prevails from a set down on Thursday in Paris
Top seed and three-time defending champion BNP Paribas Masters champion Novak Djokovic fought through injury and a tricky opponent on Thursday in Paris, overcoming a mid-match scare to rally from a set down and defeat No. 14 seed Grigor Dimitrov in their third-round clash, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Djokovic extends his win streak in Bercy to 17 consecutive matches. He will maintain his World No. 1 ranking over Andy Murray should he win two more matches and reach the final in Paris.
Both players traded early service holds, but Dimitrov broke Djokovic twice in a row to lead 3-2 and maintained his slight advantage to grab the opening set. Djokovic rebounded by racing to a 3-1 lead, but suffered a right knee injury after slipping while chasing down a forehand. He stopped play to take a medical timeout, but quickly picked where he left off and broke Dimitrov once more to force a deciding set.
The third set was one-way traffic for Djokovic. He immediately broke Dimitrov and race out to a 3-0 lead, controlling the majority of the baseline rallies and putting his opponent under constant pressure. The World No. 1 closed out the match on his first try to move into the quarter-finals.
Next up for Djokovic is ninth seed Marin Cilic, who clinched his spot in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals earlier in the day with a win over ninth seed David Goffin. The Serbian has dominated his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry against Cilic 14-0 and has won the past 12 sets they’ve played.
Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic continue to battle over the world number one ranking after both won in the third round of the Paris Masters.
Murray can overtake the 12-time Grand Slam champion if Djokovic fails to reach the final.
The Scot reached the last eight by winning a low-quality match with Lucas Pouille in straight sets, 6-3 6-0.
Serb Djokvoic came from a set down against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov before winning 4-6 6-2 6-3.
Djokovic will meet Canadian fourth seed Milos Raonic in the quarter-finals, while Murray awaits the winner of the tie between Tomas Berdych and Gilles Simon.
To become world number one for the first time, Murray must win the title if Djokovic fails to reach the final, although if the Serb should lose before the semis then Murray would only need to make the final.
Murray needed two hours and 29 minutes to get past Fernando Verdasco in the second round on Tuesday and at times looked fatigued against Pouille.
Still, the Frenchman put up little resistance, with Murray winning eight successive games after the world number 17 had broken the Briton’s serve midway through the first set.
Even with Murray below his best, Pouille’s regular errors ensured this was no great spectacle, with the second set little more than a procession.
The victory is Murray’s 71st in 2016, equalling his previous best calendar year of 2015.
A more straightforward route to the number one spot for Murray appeared possible when Dimitrov took the opening set against a low-key Djokovic, but the four-time champion fought back impressively.
Despite needing a medical time-out after twisting his knee in the second set, Djokovic dominated the closing stages to win in two hours and 24 minutes.
Croatia’s Marin Cilic won a tense encounter with Belgian David Goffin to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals, which get under way in London on 14 November.
Cilic, 28, needed six match points before finally seeing off Goffin 6-3 7-6 (11-9) to reach the last eight in Paris.
The 2014 US Open champion joins Djokovic, Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Raonic, Kei Nishikori and Gael Monfils in the line-up for London.
Dominic Thiem, Berdych or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will complete the field at the O2 Arena.
“It’s definitely something special, so it’s great for me that I achieved it, especially in this kind of way in these last few weeks,” said Cilic.
“I earned it, and that’s, for me, an even bigger plus.”
Raonic advances on Thursday in Paris
Jack Sock continued his outstanding finish to 2016 by reaching the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris on Thursday, ousting No. 12 seed and local favourite Richard Gasquet in a thrilling match, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.
Sock dropped just two points on serve in storming through the opening set, but Gasquet rebounded by grabbing the lone break of serve in the second set to level the match.
The final set saw returns feature a far more prominent role, with five breaks of serve in total. Gasquet saved two match points to hold serve at 4-5, but the American kept the pressure on his opponent and finally broke the Frenchman once more at 5-6 to wrap up the match in two hours and two minutes. He improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head record over Gasquet to 3-0.
The American’s winning ways have led to a heavy schedule over the past month. Competing in his fifth straight tournament this week, Sock has played 31 matches over the past 32 days, including doubles, and has only had six days off during this stretch. In addition to finishing runner-up two weeks ago in Stockholm (l. del Potro), he’s also racked up doubles titles in Basel (w/Granollers) and Shanghai (w/Isner), as well as finished runner-up in Beijing (w/Tomic).
Next up for Sock is the winner of the match between John Isner and qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff. He trails his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Isner 3-4, but has won their past two matches in straight sets.
Fourth seed Milos Raonic rebounded strongly after a slow start to dismiss No. 16 seed Pablo Cuevas, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. The Uruguayan clinched the lone break of serve in the opening set, but Raonic provided no opportunities to get into the match afterwards. He fired 11 aces in the final two sets and continued to keep pressure on Cuevas’ serve, accumulating seven break points in total.
Awaiting Raonic in the quarter-finals is the winner of the match between fifth seed Kei Nishikori and No. 11 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Raonic is even in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Tsonga at 2-2, but has won their past two matches. He trails Nishikori 2-5 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry, but they haven’t played in more than a year.
Cilic is seventh player to qualify
Just one spot remains in the singles field at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals as Marin Cilic became the seventh player to qualify for the prestigious season-ending tournament, to be held from 13-20 November at The O2 in London.
The Croatian secured his spot with a third-round win over David Goffin on Thursday at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. He joins Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori, Milos Raonic and Gael Monfils in the elite eight-man field.
Cilic is set to make his second appearance at The O2. After winning his maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open in 2014, Cilic went on to qualify for the season finale.
“It’s been a huge last 10 days for me,” said Cilic. “I played very well today. I had the pressure and David had beaten me the past few times. I want to keep going now and can’t wait to return to The O2. It means a lot to qualify again.”
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The 28-year-old Cilic’s 2016 season highlight came by winning his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, where he defeated Andy Murray in the final. It sparked a strong end to the season for the right-hander, as he won his second title of the year at the Swiss Indoors Basel (d. Nishikori) and reached the semi-finals of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo (l. to Goffin). Earlier in the year, Cilic had finished runner-up at the Open 13 in Marseille (l. to Kyrgios) and the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open (l. to Wawrinka), as well as reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals (l. to Federer).
Dominic Thiem, Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are all in contention for the eighth and final spot at The O2. Thiem is currently in line to qualify, but after losing his Paris opener to Jack Sock, the Austrian’s fate is dependent on the results of Berdych and Tsonga at the final ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament of the year. A semi-final showing would be good enough for Berdych, unless Tsonga wins the title.
One spot also remains up for grabs in the doubles field. Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi will complete the field, unless defending London champions, Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau, can reach the semi-finals in Paris to overtake them.
The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals has welcomed more than 1.8 million fans to The O2 arena over the past seven years, establishing itself as the biggest indoor tennis tournament in the world since moving to London in 2009. A record 102 million broadcast viewers also tuned in across the eight days of competition in 2015. The ATP announced last year that the event would remain at The O2 through to 2018. Tickets can be purchased at: www.BarclaysATPWorldTourFinals.com.