Towards the final. Novak Djokovic, defending champion, on Saturday eliminated the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4) and thus qualified for his eighth final of the Masters 1000 in Paris where he will face the young Dane Holger Runa. “I started this match very well. Then he found solutions, raised the level of play and, at a certain point, it became difficult for me to find the right shot, ”acknowledged the winner.
The 35-year-old Serbian is aiming for the seventh title in the hall of Paris, the 39th in the Masters 1000 (record), while Rune, 19, reaches the final of a tournament of this importance for the first time in his career. Djokovic remained a seven-game winning streak against Tsitsipas, but Tsitsipas was the only player who has not yet conceded his service in the tournament.
The “Djoker” in action
The game started with three shutouts, Djokovic was the first to win an exchange on the opponent’s serve, on the occasion of the 14th point of the game. This time Tsitsipas kept the game face to face, but gave up on the next two: from 2-2, the Serbian fielded five consecutive games to complete the first set and take the lead 1-0 in the second.
A sign of the domination of the “Djoker” in the first set, he made only one unforced error (against eleven for Tsitsipas) and scored nine winning strokes (against six for the Greek). Tsitsipas stopped the bleeding by winning his first serve game of the second set.
The decisive turn
And while Djokovic had taken all the points he had played on his first serve in the first set, his percentage dropped to 65% in the second. After making twelve unforced errors (versus Tsitsipas’ 10), this time it was the Serbian who gave up two of his service matches and allowed his opponent to equalize in a set anywhere.
In the decisive round, Djokovic scored two break points (on 1-1 and 4-4), but having failed to materialize, the two players reached the tie-break. Tsitsipas scored the mini-break taking the lead 4/3, but Djokovic then scored a four-point run to finish the match. “At this stage of my career, these matches are wonderful,” the Serbian tasted.
