Djokovic Denies Federer; Nadal Gains Revenge On Ferrer At ATP Finals, Can Clinch No. 1 Wednesday
In the rematch from the Paris semifinals, one results was the same, the other wasn’t. World No. 1 Rafael Nadal exacted swift and decisive revenge on David Ferrer pounding his countryman 6-3, 6-2 in just 74 minutes.
“He arrived a little bit more tired after playing the final there,” Nadal said. “Not a lot of time to adapt. Court is a little bit slower. I played with a little bit more calm than other day. And, in my opinion, he didn’t had the chance to hit the winner as easy as he did three days ago.”
Ferrer admitted to being a little tired after beat Tomas Berdych and Nadal before losing to Djokovic in the Paris final on Sunday.
“I think was not a good day,” Ferrer said. “Rafael play good. He start very solid. And me, well, in all the match I didn’t had a good feeling, no? I was a little bit tired. I think it’s like this.”
The already-tiring Ferrer will now have to return tomorrow to play Berdych.
In the late Group B match, Novak Djokovic took care of Roger Federer 6-4, 6-7, 6-2 in a sloppy rematch of their 2012 ATP World Tour Finals. After a high level of play in the first set, the match quickly disintegrated ending with seven breaks of serve – four in the second set – and seven combined doubles faults as both players miss-fired on several occasions.
“Of course, Roger was fighting throughout,” said Djokovic. “The second set was very close. I was not satisfied with my serve. I basically played with no serve. No first serves the whole second set. But when I needed to in the third, I served well. I’m just happy that I overcome this challenge.
“It was intense. It was emotional, up and down. But I lost my calmness. I have to say, in the middle of the second set. At 2-2, I had 40 love. I lost that game for no reason. He started playing better. He started making less mistakes.”
Djokovic also extends his win streak to 18 since losing to Rafael Nadal in the US Open final.
“I think Novak also struggled for a long period of time tonight,” said Federer. “So did I. I’m not even sure if we played our best in the third [set]. It’s just one of those matches you try to take advantage when the other guy’s not 100 per cent.
“I thought I had a chance today. So that’s the part where I’m unhappy. I wasn’t able to take advantage of it. Because I was actually feeling much better than I was in Paris overall, physically.
“I think at this point it’s very mental, just making sure I don’t get too negative on myself because of the loss today. I mean, it was against Novak after all. It’s not against some journeyman.”
Tomorrow Group A has the court to themselves as Nadal faces Stanislas Wawrinka and then it’s Tomas Berdych against David Ferrer. If Rafa wins he’ll secure the year-end No. 1 ranking.
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