Novak Djokovic continued his bid for a record fourth straight end-of-season title with victory over no.6 seed Tomas Berdych at the O2 Arena on Thursday.
The world no.1 qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals semis beating the Czech 6-3, 7-5 in 1 hour and 29 minutes in the final Group Sam Smith RR match.
The 28-year-old Serbian star, who is now 21-2 against Berdych, improved to an 80-6 match record on the season.
Players traded breaks early in the opening set. Novak broke once again in the eighth game and consolidated it for 6-3 after 42 minutes.
Similar scenario happened in the second set. This time the defending champion made a crucial break in the 11th game and served it out for his 29th win over top 10 players in 2015.
“I just waited for a game with more second-serve opportunities and that’s what happened at 5-5,” said Djokovic. “It was a solid performance, I think. We both could have done better. It’s been a long year and we did our best.”
Statistics: aces (0-8), double faults (0-2), winners (10-26), unforced errors (16-31), total points won (70-57).
Nole got two wins out of three matches and has earned 400 ATP points so far. The top-seeded Belgrade native now has a day off before Saturday’s semi-final.
Djokovic will play against Group Ilie Nastase winner Rafael Nadal at 14:00 local time (15:00 CET). The Spaniard leads their career H2H series 23-22.
Looking ahead to the upcoming clash with Rafa, Novak said: “He has another match tomorrow and I will watch that with my team to try and prepare. We have played so many times – I think a couple of times on this very court. He has played great in his first couple of matches in London and hopefully I will be able to play my best. That is what is needed to beat him.”
The second semi-final match sees no.3 seed Roger Federer vs either Murray or Wawrinka.
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