The world No. 1 has become the No. 1 qualifier for semifinal Saturday at the Nitto ATP Finals.
Novak Djokovic punched his ticket to the last four with a straight-set victory over Alexander Zverev on Wednesday afternoon, which eventually clinched his top-two spot in Group A when Marin Cilic beat John Isner in three sets a few hours later.
The seventh consecutive straight-set match inside the O2 Arena–13th consecutive if you include doubles–went Djokovic’s way via a commanding 6-4, 6-1 scoreline.
Only at 4-4 in the first set was there any real drama. Zverev got a look at two break points that would have given him a 5-4 lead and allowed him to serve for the opener. However, Djokovic fought off one with a service winner and another following an extended rally that ended with the German sending a backhand lob just wide. That proved to be Zverev’s last gasp, as he double-faulted at 4-5, 30-40 to end the set and then disappeared in the second.
“Obviously I had chances in the first set,” the 21-year-old reflected. “If I break him at 4-all, we’ll see where the match goes. I think the match was much closer than the score says; for sure I feel that way…. If I made the break, it goes the other direction a little bit; I’m serving for the set. Even though I lost that game, I still [felt] very comfortable that I [could] hold. But it happens. He’s No. 1 in the world for a reason.”
“It seemed like Sascha was not feeling really great; definitely not playing well, especially from the back of the court,” Djokovic noted. “He made a lot of errors. (It) wasn’t a great quality tennis match, to be honest.”
The top-seeded Serb won’t have to be great against Cilic on Friday to keep his London hopes alive because all he needed to clinch a semifinal appearance was one set from Isner on Wednesday night. Isner bagged that right away–taking a tiebreaker against the Croat before eventually falling 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-4.
A surprising run of three consecutive service breaks against perhaps the tour’s biggest server made the difference for Cilic late in the second and early in the third. The world No. 7 dropped only three points in his last four service games to wrap up his comeback win.
“It’s very weird to think I’ve lost twice but still have a shot (at the semifinals),” Isner noted. “I guess that’s the advantage of having a guy like Novak in your group. I have an objective, for sure; we’ll see if I can do it. It’s going to be very tough (against Zverev), no doubt.”
All eight players–four in each group–are still mathematically alive heading into the final two days of round-robin competition.
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