ATP Finals: Novak Djokovic in cruise mode, Rafael Nadal put out of misery

TURIN, November 16

Novak Djokovic booked his place in the last-four stage of the ATP Finals with a crushing 6-4 6-1 defeat of Russian Andrey Rublev at the Turin showpiece today.

After the first nine games went with serve, Djokovic switched on the afterburners to outclass Rublev.

Rublev, who like Djokovic had won his opening match at the year-ender, capitulated when serving to stay in the opener, losing the set as Djokovic thumped a backhand return winner.

The second set was a non-event as five-time champion Djokovic roared to victory in a little more than an hour.

“I played one of my best matches of the year,” Djokovic, who was watched for the first time by both his children Stefan and Tara,” said on court. “I found the right attitude and the right game and once I won the first set his energy went down.”

Rafael Nadal’s error-strewn performance saw him eliminated on Tuesday night, missing out once again on adding one of the few Major trophies still missing from his glittering list of titles.

The top-seeded Nadal lost 6-3 6-4 to tournament debutant Felix Auger-Aliassime to leave him with two straight group-stage defeats. That result coupled with a victory for third-seeded Casper Ruud over Taylor Fritz in the later match meant a swift exit for Nadal.

The 36-year-old Nadal has now lost four straight matches for only the second time in his career, following defeats at the US Open and Paris. After starting the season by winning the Australian Open and French Open to take his tally of Grand Slam titles to a record 22, Nadal has played just eight singles matches since having to withdraw from the Wimbledon semifinals with an injury.

“Couple of positive things. I was able to play two tournaments in the past three weeks. That’s the positive thing, something that I was not able to do for a while,” Nadal said. — Agencies

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