World No 1 Serbian crushes Kei Nishikori 6-2, 6-3 to meet Milos Raonic in final
Novak Djokovic returns to Kei Nishikori in the Paris Masters semis on Saturday. Pic/AFP.
Paris: Novak Djokovic of Serbia will play Milos Raonic of Canada in Sunday’s Paris Masters final after they emerged from starkly contrasting semi-finals on Saturday.
Novak Djokovic returns to Kei Nishikori in the Paris Masters semis on Saturday. Pic/AFP.
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Top seed and defending champion Djokovic routed a weary Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-2, 6-3 in just 62 minutes, while seventh seed Raonic edged Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in a clash that had looked destined for a deciding tie-break.
The two finalists on Sunday have played each other three times previously with Djokovic winning all three, the last occasion being a straight sets win in the quarter-finals of the French Open in June.
Revenge for Djoko
Djokovic, a two-time former champion in Paris, gained sweet revenge over Nishikori for the stunning four-sets loss to the Japanese speedster in the US Open semi-finals in September.
But even he must have been surprised at just how easy it was as he enjoyed one-way traffic all the way apart from a brief spark of resistance from Nishikori halfway through the second set when he achieved his only break of serve. But the first Asian man to reach a Grand Slam singles final at least had some genuine excuses to offer having finished his 2 hour 43 minutes quarter-final tie against David Ferrer after midnight on Friday.
Second final for Raonic
If Djokovic will be gunning for his 20th Masters Series title on Sunday, 23-year-old Raonic will be playing in just his second final, having lost in straight sets to Rafael Nadal on home soil at Montreal in September, 2013.
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