Preview: Will Novak Stop Roger's Push Towards 100th Title?

  • Posted: Nov 03, 2018

Preview: Will Novak Stop Roger’s Push Towards 100th Title?

Nov032018

Tennis legends to meet for 47th time Saturday in Rolex Paris Masters semi-finals

Roger Federer has faced 328 players in 1,435 matches over his 20-year career on the ATP World Tour. He’s never met an opponent as often Novak Djokovic, whom he plays for the 47th time in the Rolex Paris Masters semi-finals. Djokovic and Federer have clashed at all four Grand Slam tournaments and eight of the nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events. But on Saturday, the World No. 2 and No. 3 will go head-to-head for just the second time in the past 33 months. Djokovic defeated Federer 6-4, 6-4 in the Cincinnati final on 19 August to improve to 24-22 in their rivalry.

View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the following match-up at the Rolex Paris Masters and vote for the players you think will win!
Djokovic vs Federer | Thiem vs Khachanov

 

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Since the start of the 2011 season in which he rose to No. 1 in the ATP Rankings, Djokovic is 18-9 against Federer, with two wins each at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open. Djokovic also defeated Federer in the 2013 Rolex Paris Masters semi-finals. Regardless of Saturday’s result, the Serbian will return to No. 1 on Monday. If he beats Federer, Djokovic will eliminate the Swiss from contention for World No. 1 in the year-end rankings. Djokovic is two wins shy of tying Rafael Nadal’s record with 33 ATP Masters 1000 titles. Federer is two wins shy of his 100th career title.

“I’m always excited to play against him, particularly because it’s been a long time [since we’ve played] and I feel I can just go out there and see what happens,” Federer said. “I came here to Paris with no expectations and figuring that I’d just play a match or two, thinking I’d probably lose because I was too tired after Basel.

“My priority is London, but now I am so far into the tournament I’ll just give it a go and hope things click for me. I’ll have to play well when it matters most. He’s on an incredible streak again , but I hope I can worry him a little bit tomorrow.”

In the first semi-final of the day, meeting for the first time are World No. 8 Dominic Thiem and No. 18 Karen Khachanov. Thiem joined Djokovic and Federer in the Nitto ATP Finals field when Kei Nishikori lost on Friday. The 25-year-old Austrian is attempting to reach his third ATP Masters 1000 final and capture the biggest title of his career. Khachanov is appearing in his second ATP Masters 1000 semi-final after falling to No. 1 Nadal in Toronto on 11 August. The 22-year-old Russian entered Paris with a 3-16 record against Top 10 opponents. If he defeats Thiem, Khachanov will have earned three Top 10 wins in as many days after beating No. 9 John Isner on Thursday and No. 5 Alexander Zverev on Friday.

– Joshua Rey contributed to this story

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