By Erik Gudris | Saturday, November 15, 2014

 

Novak Djokovic, though dropping his first set of the week, finished in style by beating Kei Nishikori in the semis of the ATP World Tour Finals.

Photo Credit: AP

Novak Djokovic will seek a third consecutive ATP World Tour Finals title after weathering a three set challenge from Japan's Kei Nishikori in Saturday's semifinal.

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With Nishikori having beaten Djokovic at the US Open earlier this year, the consensus was that Nishikori would have to play his best tennis to have a remote chance at pulling off the upset again. This was especially true given Djokovic's imperious form throughout the week in the round robin stage.

Both engaged early in several fine backcourt rallies with each testing the other's backhand wing. Yet, Nishikori was the first to surrender his serve and he couldn't handle a Djokovic pass down break point. Nishikori sent a volley well wide giving Djokovic a 3-1 lead.

From there, Djokovic took flight. Winning 12 out of 14 baseline rallies, Djokovic would secure yet another break for 5-1. With Djokovic only dropping two points on his serve in the set, he soon wrapped up the convincing first set 6-1.

Djokovic broke Nishikori to start the second set and looked poised to run away with it. With the London crowds having sat through one-sided singles matches all week, their growing support of Nishikori to make something happen appeared to grate on the defending champion.

That boiled over when Djokovic, down break point, was greeted with some applause from the crowd after he served a fault. He then hit another fault giving Nishikori the break back and prompting the crowd to break out in even more applause. Djokovic responded with a sarcastic clap of his own.

While Djokovic tried to sort out how he felt about all that, Nishikori sorted out his own game. Though dealing with a sore wrist, Nishikori started connecting for more winners, especially on his forehand side. That shot, yielding seven out Nishikori's 10 winners in that set, proved important for Nishikori who struck another forehand winner to open a 5-3 lead.

With a strong serve, Nishikori closed out the set 6-3. The crowd had the match they wanted. But who would win it was still anyone's guess.

That was due to Djokovic still reeling from Nishikori's momentum. Djokovic stumbled several times in his opening service game to start the final set and quickly found himself down 15-40. Yet, Nishikori couldn't take advantage. With Nishikori unable to win either point, Djokovic clawed his way to deuce and soon held for 1-0 with a forehand winner.

After that, the match turned all in favor of Djokovic again.

Despite holding one of the best records in closing out three set matches this season, Nishikori couldn't find the form that he carried from the second set. Nishikori struck back-to-back errors handing Djokovic a 2-0 lead that soon became 3-0. Nishikori's second serve woes resumed as he double faulted while ahead game point. Another miss from the Japanese and soon it was 4-0 in favor of Djokovic.

There would be no comeback for Nishikori as he served to stay in the match down 0-5. Djokovic, now back to the near-perfect form he showed all week long, ripped a crosscourt forehand winner to create match point. The match ended on a muted note when Nishikori served up one last double fault.

The expected result was in the books though perhaps by an unexpected scrolling as Novak Djokovic as walked away with the 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 win sending him back into the final.

Djokovic remains unbeaten in indoor matches at 31-0 and will attempt to become the first man to win the yea-end event three years in a row since Ivan Lendl. He now awaits the winner of the second semifinal between Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka.