Djokovic secures semifinals spot at ATP Finals in Turin

Wednesday, 17 November 2021 at 15:21

Novak Djokovic will play in the ATP Finals semifinals after he comfortably defeated Andrey Rublev in their first-ever match 6-3 6-2.

The match had an interesting start to it s Novak was a bit off allowing Rublev a couple of easy forehands to win the rallies. Rublev took a 1-0 lead with a break and he looked determined in this match early. However, he wasn't able to hold it for too long as Djokovic pulled the break back rather fast. Rublev was very shaky from the baseline slamming balls quite wide.

Novak Djokovic was not much better either but for him, it was mostly about his serve. If he hit his first serve the point would be quickly over. On his 2nd he had more issues. Over time he settled in nicely however both with his rhythm and serving and he was able to create a lot of pressure on Rublev. The Russian's game got worse over time and rather quickly Djokovic won the first set with 6-3.

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The level Rublev was putting forward was far off from the one he had against Tsitsipas. His serving was nowhere near as good and his forehand was not clicking as often he would like have liked. Those issues persisted in the 2nd set as well with Rublev determined to play short points. Too many errors gave Djokovic a lot of free points and the Serbian kept adding to the lead.

Ultimately it took him only slightly above an hour to win the match against Rublev who did not play well at all. He arguably played worse than he played in the past few weeks which in itself was rather bad. He will have a chance to move on but he will need to play against Ruud in the 3rd round for that.

José Morgado

@josemorgado

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Novak Djokovic plays another great match, easily beats Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-2 to qualify for the semifinals at the ATP Finals. The Russian can still qualify if he beats Ruud on Friday. [getty]