Novak Djokovic firmly kept the pressure on Andy Murray in the battle for year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on Thursday. The Serbian dominated David Goffin during their Barclays ATP World Tour Finals round-robin match, beating the Belgian 6-1, 6-2 in 70 minutes.
Djokovic, the second seed in London, improved to 3-0 in Group Ivan Lendl and clinched his fifth consecutive semi-final appearance in London. The four-time defending champion now awaits the second-place finisher in Group John McEnroe, which could be Murray, Stan Wawrinka or Kei Nishikori. Wawrinka and Murray face off on Friday afternoon, and Nishikori will meet Cilic during Friday's evening session.
“I'm very glad that my game is going in the right direction. Today I felt the most comfortable, definitely, so far in the tournament. I'm looking forward to the semi-finals on Saturday,” Djokovic said.
On paper Murray is 205 points ahead of Djokovic, but the Scot will see the 275 points he earned in the 2015 Davis Cup final fall from his points total on 28 November, the day the year-end rankings are calculated. So, that effectively leaves Murray, who has played one less match in London than Djokovic, 70 points behind the Serbian at the conclusion of Thursday’s day session.
But if Murray beats Wawrinka for the 10th time during their 17th FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting, Murray will again lead Djokovic by 130 points.
Djokovic, who's going for his sixth finale title, is trying to finish No. 1 for the third consecutive year and for the fifth time overall, and he looked primed to continue challenging Murray on Thursday. The 29 year old saved the only break point he faced and broke Goffin four times. The Belgrade native also lost only six points on his first serve (29/35).
He and Goffin had endured close matches in the past, including a three-set contest in Cincinnati last season and a 7-6(5), 6-4 Djokovic win earlier this year at the Miami Open presented by Itau. But the Serbian was in top form at The O2 against Goffin, who was an alternate at the finale and stepped in for Gael Monfils, who withdrew because of a rib injury.
“It was a great experience to be here, just to feel the atmosphere, to feel how it is... Even if I didn't play well today, I just played a match in front of the crowd against Novak, it's always a good experience,” Goffin said. “It was nice to be part, a little bit, of this tournament. It gives you a lot of motivation for next year. I will try to be part of the tournament, in the Top 8. We will see next year, but I will try to do my best.”
The Serbian took the action to the finale debutant throughout the match, stepping into the court confidently and winning 7/11 of his net points. In doing so, Djokovic became the fifth player in Barclays ATP World Tour Finals history (since 1970) to win 30 matches at the season-ending championships. The other four players are Roger Federer (52), Ivan Lendl (39), Boris Becker (36) and Pete Sampras (35).
“Everything has been going, as I said, in a positive direction. I've been playing better and better as I proceed in the tournament. I have now a day of rest,” Djokovic said. “I'm looking forward really. It's the last couple matches of the year hopefully. One thing is for sure: I'm going to give it my all on the court and see what happens.”
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