TURIN: Novak Djokovic beat American Taylor Fritz in the semi-finals of the ATP Finals on Saturday, despite having a bad day in his own opinion, to move to within one win of matching Roger Federer’s record of six titles at the season finale.

Djokovic, chasing a sixth title at the event, prevailed 7-6(5) 7-6(6) and will play either Casper Ruud or Andrey Rublev in Sunday’s final.

“I had to fight to survive”, the 35-year-old Serbian said after his hard-fought victory over one hour 54 minutes at the Pala Alpitour in Turin.

“I didn’t feel very reactive today or very comfortable. I knew coming into today’s match from yesterday’s gruelling battle against (Daniil) Medvedev... it would take me some time to adjust and find the dynamic movement I need against Fritz, who is one of the best servers on the Tour.

I am very pleased to have overcome this one as I don’t think it was one of my best days with my tennis but I managed to hang in there.”

If Djokovic wins the final, he will claim the biggest prize in tennis history, cashing in $4,740,300 for lifting the tournament trophy undefeated.

In Friday’s late match, Andrey Rublev sealed a place in the final four of the Turin ATP Finals rallying from a set down to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

In a winner-takes-all encounter with the last place in the semi-finals at stake Tsitsipas looked set to win a third head-to-head with Rublev this season with a powerful first set.

But the world ranked number seven Rublev showed no nerves in the big moments thereafter and overpowered the Greek with the quality of his ground strokes, earning his first ATP finals semi-final encounter.

“I didn’t give up. I kept fighting and playing,” Rublev said. “I just gave my best and I managed to turn the match around and I am happy to be in the semis.”

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2022