David Ferrer stuns Novak Djokovic to reach the semi-finals – Barclays ATP World Tour Finals 2011
A 17,500 sold-out crowd at the O2 Arena was in for a huge upset on Wednesday night, as the world number one, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, was brutally manhandled by the fifth seed Spaniard, David Ferrer, in his second Round Robin matchup of the Barclays ATP
(Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour Finals.
The one-sided affair took just 75 minutes to conclude, with the world number five winning in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, to confirm a berth in the semi-finals of the season ending grand finale. Ferrer outclassed Djokovic in every segment of the game, asserting
his dominance over the top seed to get 2-0 in Group A of the draw.
Wednesday’s win improved Ferrer’s record to 58-17 for the year, getting him one step closer to have a title shot at the prestigious mega event. The Spaniard suffered a quarter-final loss at the hands of Djokovic at the Madrid Masters earlier this year but
avenged his defeat this time around in the most authoritative manner. It was just the fifth defeat for the world number one in the entire 2011 season, as he holds a 70-5 winning record to be the most successful player on the ATP World Tour this year.
Ferrer improves 5-6 in the head-to-head series against the world number one Djokovic after his Wednesday’s win and earned a spot in the round of four in the season finale. The Spaniard believes his victory over the top ranked Serbian to be his best win of
the whole season and is very hopeful to carry on his winning impetus in the rest of the tournament as well.
“I am very motivated," said Ferrer, after improving to 2-0 in Group A. "I am in the semi-finals. I want to enjoy this moment. I don't want to think about the semi-final on Saturday. I think maybe today was my best match of the season. I felt good before
the match. Maybe the key was in my serve. The last times against Nole, I haven't served really good.”
The top seed badly failed to register a single break point in the entire matchup, coughing 30 unforced errors on his way to defeat, while the Spaniard nailed four crushing ones to drive him out of the contest in an assertive fashion. Ferrer will play his
last Round Robin matchup against the first alternate in the event, Janko Tipsarevic, who has replaced injured Andy Murray in the elite eight-man draw.
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