By Chris Oddo | Friday November 6, 2015
Novak Djokovic had to battle but in the end he squeaked past Tomas Berdych in straight sets in Paris.
Photo Source: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images
What was supposed to be a thrashing turned into a nail biter but in the end the predictable outcome occurred at the Paris Masters in Bercy on Friday evening. Another confidence-inspiring straight-sets victory for Novak Djokovic, 7-6(3), 7-6(8), to stretch his run of consecutive matches won to 20 and his run of consecutive sets won to 28.
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The match itself never really hung in the balance for Djokovic, but each set most certainly did. Berdych earned set points in the 12th game of the first set but the Serb quickly wiggled out of that scenario by executing a perfect one-two combo to put away a forehand winner.
Djokovic would seal the game with an ace two points later and take the first set tiebreaker, 7-3.
In the second set Berdych continued to pursue Djokovic behind the strength of booming serves and easy power from his backhand wing. Not looking like a player who had lost 16 consecutive times to Djokovic on a hard court, Berdych pushed the Serb around quite a bit, and he did not face a break point as the pair marched into a second-set breaker.
Berdych looked to be in position to force a decider as he earned another set point at 5-6 in the tiebreaker, but his forehand started to break down on him just when he needed it most.
He sailed one long, allowing Djokovic new life at the changeover with the score 6-6. Quickly Berdych earned another set point, this time on his own serve, but he missed makeable forehands on successive points, handing Djokovic the balls and his first match point at 8-7 in the second set tiebreaker.
The Serb’s forehand also let him down as he missed long to allow Berdych to 8-8, but Djokovic would convert his second match point on Berdych’s serve as the Czech tossed in his 38th unforced error of the evening to hand the World No. 1 the victory in two hours and seven minutes.
Djokovic improves to 76-5 on the year and 53-4 on hard courts. He’s into the semifinals at Paris, just two wins away from becoming the first man in history to win six Masters 1000 events in a single season.
Djokovic will face the Rafael Nadal-Stan Wawrinka winner in the semifinals on Saturday, while David Ferrer and Andy Murray will square off in the other semifinal.