The Novak Djokovic vs. Roger Federer rivalry will add another chapter to its lore after the soon-to-be top two players in the world won their respective quarterfinal matches at the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Friday. Djokovic took care of David Ferrer 6-4, 6-2 to book his semifinal spot before Federer downed Julien Benneteau 7-6(4), 6-0.
Djokovic faced only two break points against Ferrer, both which came as the two-time defending champion attempted to serve out the first set at 5-4. He managed to seal the deal and was off to the races in the second.
“The 10th game of the first set was crucial,” Djokovic explained. “It was crucial to serve the first set out. Obviously, it was a huge relief because it was very physical, especially towards the end of the first set. I served well in important moments. [The] second set was pretty good.”
Federer’s second set was better than pretty good. After battling through a wildly entertaining tiebreaker to begin his match against Benneteau, the 33-year-old Swiss did not lose another game the rest of the way. Federer finished with 11 aces and no double-faults, served at 77 percent, and won 92 percent of his first-serve points.
“I thought I played very well against (Robert) Bautista Agut (in the third round), but maybe tonight was a bit better,” said Federer, who will pass Rafael Nadal for the No. 2 world ranking on Monday. “Especially once I got in the lead, it’s nice to have those great 10, 15 minutes where you can stretch it. That’s what I was able to do. So this probably was my best match so far.”
Federer was not the only man who won his quarterfinal match with a bagel. Gilles Simon pulled off an upset in a back-and-forth affair with Tomas Berdych that lasted two hours and 27 minutes but featured no drama whatsoever in the third set. Simon prevailed 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-0 after surrendering a mere nine total points in the decider.
“I feel my tennis is coming back,” said the suddenly red-hot Frenchman. “I’m finding a better rhythm. I feel also physically stronger. Tomas is a great player. He’s always hard to beat. I think I almost played the perfect match today. It was really tight for two sets. I’m just happy that I won the fight.”
Next up for Simon is Feliciano Lopez, who reached the Shanghai semifinals for the third time in his career by overcoming Mikhail Youzhny 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
[polldaddy poll=8366129]
[polldaddy poll=8366132]
Leave a Reply