Novak Djokovic stops Juan Martin Del Potro in the semi-finals – ATP World Tour Finals 2012
Top seed, Novak Djokovic, is just one step away from claiming his second season ending championships, as he overpowered the world number seven, Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina, in the semi-finals of the Barclays ATP World Tour
Finals in London on Sunday.
The Serbian juggernaut went down in the first set and started badly in the second one but then he raised the level of his game to win it in three 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 after a battle of two hours and 12 minutes.
Del Potro faced some pressure early on but managed to hold and then the opener went with serve in the first eight games to take the score to 4-4. The Argentinean player played formidably well later one, allowing Djokovic to claim
only one point and winning it 6-4.
The 2009 US Open champion, Del Potro, seemed to have taken control of the proceedings, when he broke Djokovic in the third game of the second set to go up 2-1 but the Serbian hit back immediately to equalise it a 2-2. Djokovic
struck in the eighth one and won his following serve to close it 6-3.
Decider was expected to be the closest of all but it turned out to be completely one sided in the end. Djokovic hit an early blow to his Argentinean rival and capitalised on it to attain a 3-1 lead. Del Potro dropped his serve
again in the seventh and then almost surrendered, as he did not win even a single point in the eighth one to lose 2-6.
Commenting on his strategy during the match, Djokovic said, “I played a little bit more on his backhand side and got more opportunity to attack, where in the first set I played too much on his forehand [and[ got crushed.”
The Serbian star captured the season ending championships in 2008, when it used to take place in Shanghai but had not reached even the final in London in the preceding three years.
He added, “I'm very pleased, it's the first final here in London. I haven't played a final of the [Barclays ATP] World Tour Finals since 2008. I really look forward to it. It's already a great success [to get to this stage]. But
knowing it's the last match of the season, I'm really going to try to give my best physically and mentally tomorrow to eventually try to get the trophy.”
Djokovic will take on one of the best players the sport of tennis has even seen, Roger Federer, in the final.
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