Novak Djokovic primed for 20th Masters crown in Paris

Sport360 staff 13:02 02/11/2014
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  • Hot streak: World No1 Novak Djokovic was too strong for Kei Nishikori in the semi-final yesterday.

    World No1 Novak Djovokic will be chasing a 600th career win when he meets hard-hitting Canadian Milos Raonic in the final of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris today.

    Djokovic needed only 62 minutes to win his semi-final yesterday against Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-2, 6-3 and put himself in line to claim a 20th career Masters title and his third in Paris.

    The Serb showed little effects of his quarter-final win over Andy Murray but it was clearly a match too far for Nishikori who needed three sets to beat David Ferrer on Friday night and secure his place at the ATP World Tour Finals in London next week.

    “I haven’t dropped a set getting into the final and I feel fresh and motivated to play well,” Djokovic said.

    “I could see Kei wasn’t serving at his best and maybe that was down to injury or feeling fatigued after finishing late against Ferrer. “I served exceptionally well in important moments and that encourages me for the final.”

    Djokovic has now won 26 straight matches indoors and will start as the overwhelming favourite today.

    But he admits to being impressed with Raonic, who followed up what he described as the best win of his career against Roger Federer in Friday’s quarter-final by beating Tomas Berdych 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in the last four.

    “He’s one of the best servers in the game, he’s been serving regularly 220-230km first serves and he hasn’t been missing too many,” Djokovic said of Raonic.

    “His second serve is also bouncing very high and he has a very good movement for someone of his height, so he’s improved his baseline game and he’s a complete player now.”

    Raonic sent down 12 aces to Berdych’s seven in a game which lasted two hours and eight minutes. Berdych appeared as if he had taken control of proceedings in the final set but Raonic rallied to reach his second Masters 1000 final.

    Raonic booked his place at the season-ending London tournament by upsetting Federer but insisted he was just as motivated for the challenge of playing his Czech opponent Berdych.

    “I’ve been playing great and I made the most of this week,” said Raonic.

    “It’s about making that last and making every win as special as the one before it to try and go through all the way.”

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