ATP World Tour Finals - Day 5

Friday 25th November


Djokovic and Berdych were fighting for their places today as wins were the name of the game for this pair. Djoko took on Davis Cup team mate Tipsarevic in the day match and Berdy fought for his place against so far unbeatable Ferrer in the evening match.


Djokovic and Tipsarevic are good friends off the court but there was little evidence of this as the pair battled it out in the O2. Djokovic came out all guns firing and quickly wrapped up the first set 6-3. He looked to be drawing on unknown reserves and making a fight for the finals of the last tournament of what has been an incredible year for the world number 1. Tipsarevic, a reserve for Andy Murray who lost his opening match, had nothing to gain by winning this match in terms of progression in the competition, and surely would want to see his good friend go through to have a chance of another title? Sportsmen, however, do not think this way. A match is a match and no player would go into one not wanting to win, or not caring whether they won or not. Tipsarevic was not about to bow out of his first Tour End Finals without a show.


He rallied in the second set and hit huge groundstrokes to take it 6-3 and set up a decider. Djokovic was broken in the very first game of the third set and never quite recovered as Tipsarevic hit clever shots and then booming groundstrokes to beat Djoko for only the 6th time this year (in 76 matches). 


Djoko had to hope that Ferrer beat Berdych in straight sets to go through to the semis.


Ferrer is on a winning streak. He defeated a crook Murray in straight sets on Monday and then destroyed Djokovic on Wednesday. He is already sure of a place in the semis but a victory today ensures he will play the second place player in the other group, a far better prospect than Federer who he has not beaten in 11 meetings. He should have had no fear, then, of Berdych - a lower ranked player than himself and one who has a 1-1 win/loss ratio in the tournament so far. 


He didn't look like he feared Berdy as he won the first set 6-3 and was twice a break up in the second and seemingly cruising to victory. This fearlessness, however, didn't last. He suffered a dramatic collapse and lost the second set 7-5, then the third 6-1. Berdych played well and took full advantage of his opponents loss of form, but Ferrer basically handed Berdych the win and as such the right to play Tsonga instead of Fed in the semi finals. 


Ferrer said of his match against Federer that he would fight and acknowledged he's never beaten Federer before but will try his hardest to do so.


I'll keep you blogged...