As I predicted earlier, Novak Djokovic won the 2013 Paris ATP Masters title, defeating defending champion David Ferrer 7-5 7-5. The good news for Ferrer is that he is getting closer and closer to the elite at the top. After all, right now he is ranked higher than both Andy Murray (who is injured) and Roger Federer (who is in a slump). He served for both sets at 5-4 and ended up being broken and after losing the momentum could not recover in time to stop his opponent from winning.
It was Djokovic's 17th consecutive match win, and 3rd consecutive tournament title, following wins in Beijing and Shanghai earlier last month. It was the former World #1's 40th career title, vaulting him into the rare 40-plus club occupied by new World #1 Rafael Nadal (60-24) and Federer (77-36) and improving his finals record to 40-21. Djokovic improved to a 66-9 record on the year and keeps his chances of finishing the year at #1 alive. It was Djokovic's 6th title of the year and 16th ATP Masters shield of his career. Ferrer has won 3 titles in 2013 but has lost in seven(!) finals this year, falling to a 20-22 record in ATP tour finals overall. However, he did reach two ATP Masters finals as well as a major final so 2013 has to be considered a good year, especially since it included a rare win over Nadal yesterday.
The top 8 players and tennis spotlight move to London where the ATP World Tour finals commence on Tuesday with round robin competition between Ferrer, Nadal, Tomas Berdych and Stanislas Wawrinka in one group, and Federer, Djokovic, Richard Gasquet and Juan Martin del Potro in the other. I like Djokovic's chances to win the year-end title, and I suspect he will either be facing Nadal or del Potro.
Novak, Juan Martin, and Roger are in the same half and thus Novak facing Rafa seems like a potential outcome, but with the intensity of having to play each other every day, it will be interesting to see who delivers the goods.
ReplyDeleteEven a Berdych might surprise, although doubtful.