Both singles matches at the World Tour Finals on Monday resulted in double-breadsticks.
A few hours after Stan Wawrinka blitzed Tomas Berdych 6-1, 6-1, Novak Djokovic destroyed Marin Cilic by the same score in the nightcap. Djokovic broke serve a whopping six times in seven return games to prevail in 56 minutes.
Playing the year-end championship for the first time in his career, Cilic got off to a slow start that was compounded by the fact that his opponent came up with a flurry of impressive forehand passing shots. The U.S. Open champion seemed to finally gain some momentum when he won six points in a row during the second set, breaking for 1-2 and then taking a 30-0 lead on serve.
That, however, was Cilic’s last chance to make anything out of the match. Djokovic fought back to regain his break advantage and from there he was off the races.
“In some matches, the score just keeps running,” said Cilic, who struck only six winners and won just three of nine net points. “The score just goes and it’s difficult to stop…. You are sinking a lot. You are always trying to find something. But whatever you try, it’s not working. That’s what I felt today…. Also I felt that Novak played really, really solid today.”
Djokovic committed only 12 unforced errors to Cilic’s 22. In 55 points that featured fewer than five shots, the top-ranked Serb won 38 whereas Cilic won just 17.
“It was a great performance,” Djokovic assured. “I was hoping I could play this way. I tried to use my experience playing on this stage. [Cilic’s] debut in the World Tour Finals has gotten the best of him in terms of his nerves. You could see that he didn’t feel so comfortable.”
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Joker looking good in London…as does Fed!
^^^^^Considerably enhanced by sub-par performances from their opponents.
Both Federer and Djokovic won their first WTFs in the same year they won their first Slam.