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By Chris Oddo | Wednesday, November 11, 2014

 
Novak Djokovic, World Tour Finals 2014

Novak Djokovic came in like a lamb but went out like a lion, crushing Stan Wawrinka, 6-3, 6-0.

Photo Source: Jordan Mansfield/Getty

Wednesday’s heavily anticipated battle between Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka in London was supposed to be the one that changed the tone of this year’s World Tour Finals. Instead it was yet another lopsided tilt that began with promise and ended with a thud—and this time, a bagel.

More WTFs: Berdych Bulldozes Cilic to Keep Hopes Alive

Djokovic’s 6-3, 6-0 thumping of Wawrinka marks the eighth consecutive straight sets decision at this year’s World Tour Finals. An event known for its elite competition and thrilling rivalries has instead devolved into a snoozefest of epic proportions in 2014.

In Djokovic’s defense, he had nothing—and everything—to do with the match’s somnambulant characteristics. The world No. 1, bidding to become the first man to three-peat at this prestigious year-end event in nearly 30 years, stepped up his bid to finish the season as the ATP’s No. 1 player for the third time in four years with a crisp, dominant performance that gave Wawrinka very little chance to air out his punishing baseline game.

The win marks Djokovic’s 29th consecutive indoor win and his 12th in a row at the World Tour Finals. He has not lost at the 02 Arena since 2011, when he fell to his compatriot Janko Tipsarevic in his last round-robin match that year.

What little chance the Swiss had in Wednesday’s affair, he proceeded to throw away.

Wawrinka faced break points in every service game, and twice coughed up ill-timed double faults to give Djokovic break points in the first set. After taking an early 2-0 lead and raising the hopes of the London faithful that this would be the stellar match that they’d been pining for, Wawrinka lost 16 of the next 17 points to fall behind 4-2, and he won only one game the rest of the way.

"After I lost the first two games, obviously I didn't start so great,” Djokovic said. “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 would notch only eight winners against 29 unforced errors, and whenever he seemed to be earning his keep in the rallies, Djokovic took his game a level above to leave him disappointed..

The Serb won an impressive 16 of 20 points at net and broke serve five times on nine opportunities. Remarkably, Djokovic has broken serve in 11 out of 14 return games against Marin Cilic and Wawrinka in London.

“I just played very solid from all over the court,” Djokovic said, according to ATPWorldtour.com. “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.”

The Serb will attempt to lock up the No. 1 ranking for the season on Friday when he meets Tomas Berdych. With a lifetime 16-2 mark against the Czech, fans in London might want to prepare themselves for another short, one-sided outing.

Notes, Numbers, Tweets

Djokovic's indoor winning streak is the third-longest of all-time, according to the ATP. Here are the top five:

1. John McEnroe 59
2. Ivan Lendl 37
3. Novak Djokovic 29
4. Roger Federer 26
5. Boris Becker 19

Djokovic's last indoor loss came against Sam Querrey at Bercy in 2012.

The Serb improves to 16-3 vs. Wawrinka with the win. He had his 14-match winning streak snapped against Wawrinka in Australia this year.







 

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