World number one Novak Djokovic won his semi-final match against Kevin Anderson in two sets on Saturday evening. In the final it’s against Alexander Zverev.
By Florian Goosmann from London
In the final of the ATP Finals the group game Djokovic against Zverev is repeated. The “Djoker” won in the evening against Kevin Anderson with 6:2, 6:2 and fights with it on Sunday evening (from 19 o’clock, live on Sky) for his sixth title at the unofficial tennis world championship.
In the new edition of the Wimbledon endgame it became clear in the first game which mammoth task Anderson would expect. The strong South African hardly got any free points in his own service, Djokovic usually put the returns directly in front of his feet – Anderson’s supposed service advantage was thus gone. And thus the chance to take the scepter over the forehand in the hand.
Anderson risked too much, a total of 27 unforced mistakes were on his sheet, Djokovic had 14. Anderson only scored 26 percent of the points when he had to go over the second service.
Djokovic himself, on the other hand, remained as strong as in the previous matches: he served 69 per cent of the first serve and 85 per cent of the point. There was no break chance for Anderson. In his four matches in London, he played all his 36 service games, with only two break points to fend off.
“This was certainly my best match of the week,” said Djokovic after the Anderson game. He has now won a total of 15 matches against top 10 players in 2018 – all since June. The match balance since then: 35 victories, 2 defeats…
In direct comparison with Zverev, Djokovic leads 2-1 – Zverev won the first match in the 2017 Rome Final (6-4, 6-3), Djokovic won a few weeks ago in Shanghai (6-2, 6-1) and in the group stage of the ATP Finals last Wednesday (6-4, 6-1). “He played Roger fantastically, served great in the last few matches. I’m going to have to play similarly to today and bring a lot of first serves back into the game,” Djokovic analysed.
Djokovic has already won the ATP Finals five times (2008, 2012-2015). If he triumphs again, he will draw level with record champ Roger Federer.