Determination was the key to Novak Djokovic’s win as he overcame a spirited performance from Milos Raonic with a 7-6(6), 7-6(5), victory at the ATP Finals in London.
Historically the former world No.1 has been a figure of nightmares for the Wimbledon runner-up. Leading into this year’s London tournament, Djokovic has defeated Raonic in all seven of their previous meetings and won 18 out of the 19 sets that they have played.
It was a case of so near, but so far throughout the first half of the match. First, it was Djokovic, who had to fend off three break points in his first two service games. The problem for the Serbian was that he was facing a player with one of the biggest serves in the game. Raonic’s 88% winning first serve percentage in the first set was a true testament to this as he fired a series of serves that exceeded the 140 MPH mark. Raonic had further chances by battling his way to 30-0 twice against the Djokovic serve, but failed to capitalize on the advantage both times.
As both players valiantly battled to protect their service games like a duo of titans, it was inevitable that the tiebreaker would see a series of ups and downs. Breaking each other twice, Djokovic’s first chance to secure the set came with the help of a well placed lob. Once again, he still couldn’t pull away from the Canadian as he battled back to level 6-6 with some ferocious hitting. The second set point came with a stroke of luck from the tennis gods. A sluggish 77 MPH serve from the second seed was returned out from his rival. The good fortunes continued after a Raonic double fault gifted the opening set.
Clinching his 15th consecutive set against his rival, Djokovic still had a tough task of trying to tame Raonic’s spirited play. After three consecutive breaks, Djokovic finally rewarded himself with some breathing space after he worked his way to a set and a 4-2 lead. The margin was not enough as some tentative hitting from the defending champion enabled Raonic to once again level 4-4. Facing the prospect of a three-set match after an error gave Raonic a set point at 6-5, the Serbian worked his way back to force a second tiebreaker with the help of a forehand cross-court winner.
The closeness of the match was a blessing in disguise for the second seed, who was force to display glimmers of the play that he dominated the entire tour with throughout 2015. Muscling through another roller coaster tiebreak, an ace secured match point. The mission was then completed due to error no.27 from Raonic.
“It was a very close match. I think very few points separated us tonight. It really could have gone either way.” Djokovic admitted.
“I should have done my job earlier, to be honest. I’m not very pleased to drop my serve twice against Milos, especially the second time.”
“Credit to him for really hanging in there, putting pressure, being aggressive, especially from the forehand. But I think I should have done better there.”
Tuesday’s win has secured Djokovic’s place in the semifinals of the London tournament as he bids to regain his world No.1 ranking. Closing in on his goal, the Serbian is aware that he needs to keep increasing his level of play in order to clinch his fifth consecutive year-end crown.
“Other than couple of loose my service games, I thought it was a good performance. I should have maybe been a bit more aggressive in certain points, maybe too static in certain points.”
His final match of the Ivan Lendl Group will be against Gael Monfils on Thursday.
