“Paris Tournament”: Novak takes revenge on Roone and reaches the semi-finals
Serbian Novak Djokovic, ranked first in the world, took revenge on Danish Holger Rone on Friday and reached the semi-finals of the 1000th Paris Masters Tennis Championship.
The Serbian missed an opportunity to settle the match in the second set, but in the end he defeated the Danish player who defeated him in last year’s final 7 – 5, 6 – 7 (3/7), and 6 – 4, in a match that lasted more than two hours and 45 minutes.
Djokovic, who holds a record six tournament titles, will face Russian Andrey Rublev, who defeated Australian Alex de Minaur 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in a match that ended at one o’clock after midnight, on Saturday, for a place in the final for the ninth time.
Victory cry for the Serbian after a wonderful performance (AFP)
Djokovic, who suffered from an intestinal virus over the weekend, is playing his first professional tournament, after winning his 24th major title in Flushing Meadows, USA, last September.
“It was a match similar to last year’s final,” the 36-year-old Serbian veteran said. Any player can win any set.”
Noli continued: “I had a bad tiebreak in the second set, perhaps the worst this year. But again, I praise him for his mental strength and playing with solidity.”
The world number one added, “We have a similar style. “Good movement, good defense and we can play on all surfaces.”
After two losses to the seventh-ranked player in the world, this is Djokovic’s second victory over Rone (20 years old), who is currently working with Djokovic’s former coach, German Boris Becker.
“It was strange to see Boris in the opposite booth,” Djokovic continued. I wish them the best.”
Djokovic excelled in the first set in particular thanks to his serves, and he broke his opponent’s serve in the twelfth game.
In the second set, he missed a ball to decide the match when he was leading 5-4, before the Dane hit a series of wonderful shots in the tie-break, forcing a decisive third set.
But Djokovic was devastating in the third, and a single break of serve in the third game was enough to see him reach the semi-finals.
Djokovic has won 16 matches in a row, since his loss to Spaniard Carlos Alcarras in the Wimbledon final. He had won all eight of his previous matches in the Paris semi-finals.
Roone exited the tournament after struggling against Novak (AFP)
Prior to that, Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, ranked sixth in the world, joined Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (17) in the semi-finals, with the former defeating Russian Karen Khachanov (15) and the latter defeating Polish Hubert Hurkacz (11).
Tsitsipas, who won in two clean sets 6-3 and 6-4 and reached the semi-finals for the second year in a row, had previously secured his seat in the final AT Masters tournament the day before, and reached the semi-finals without losing a set.
The Greek said, “My level reached an interesting level today (Friday), better than it was in recent days.”
In the semi-finals, Tsitsipas will face Dimitrov, who defeated Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.
This loss ended Hurkacz’s hopes of qualifying for the Masters tournament, which brings together the best eight players this season in Turin, Italy, in mid-November. German Alexander Zverev and Roone reserved the last two tickets.
For his part, Dimitrov confirms his good level at the present time, as the 32-year-old Bulgarian reached the semi-finals of the Chinese tournament in Chengdu, the quarter-finals in Beijing, and the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters 1000 tournament, which Hurkač won.
Dimitrov had already played in the semi-finals of the Paris tournament in 2019, and then lost to Djokovic.
2023-11-04 14:55:44
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