2010 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals; Match preview- Roger Federer versus Novak Djokovic
World number two Roger Federer faces Novak Djokovic in the second semi-final of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London on Saturday. The Swiss maestro leads the pairs overall head-to-head series at 12-6.
Federer has been in stellar form throughout this week, going 3-0 in the round robin stage without dropping a set. Meanwhile Djokovic has a 2-1 record this week, after he lost his match against top seed Rafael Nadal. Both men have
captured this crown before; Federer won it in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007, whereas Djokovic won in 2008.
Federer, who has a career record of 32-7 at the prestigious season-ending event, is playing in the semi-finals for the eighth time in nine appearances. He made his way into the semis after getting the better of Robin Soderling
in two sets 7-6, (5) 6-3 on Thursday. The right-hander opened his account here with a straight set win over David Ferrer of Spain 6-1, 6-4.
This will be Federer's 13th semi- final in eighteen championships this year. The Swiss has a win loss record of 63-13 for the season, and is 8-4 in semi-final
matches. Since his quarter-final exit at Wimbledon, the Swiss superstar has won 32 of 36 matches in eight tournaments.
His season highlights include winning the Australian Open in Melbourne, ATP World Tour Masters 1000 in Cincinnati, Stockholm and Basel. He was also runner up in Madrid, Halle, Toronto and Shanghai, and had a number of semi-final
and quarter-final appearances this year.
Novak Djokovic qualified for the semis by virtue of his straight set win over Andy Roddick 6-2, 6-3. The 23-year-old Djokovic comes into the match with a 59-17 record for the year. He began his campaign in London with a straight
sets win over Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-3. His only loss came against Rafael Nadal.
Djokovic, who was also ranked number two for twenty six weeks earlier in 2010, captured two titles this season in Dubai and Beijing. He also reached the final in New York and Basel.
Roger is clearly playing better than Djokovic at the moment, and the world number two will be favourite to get past the Serbian once again. In their last four clashes, Federer has won eight sets down to Novak’s five. The sixteen-time
Grand Slam champion is also having a brilliant week at the World Tour Finals, winning all three of his clashes with relative ease.
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