Dominant Djokovic Races Past Tsitsipas In Paris

Novak Djokovic avenged his Rolex Shanghai Masters quarter-final loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas in style on Friday, dropping just three games to race past the Greek 6-1, 6-2 at the Rolex Paris Masters.

The World No. 1 recorded his 35th victory at the ATP Masters 1000 event after 58 minutes, winning 67 per cent of second-serve return points (12/18) to level his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against Tsitsipas at 2-2. Djokovic is through to his sixth semi-final in Bercy. The 32-year-old owns a 9-1 record at this event after reaching the last four.

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Djokovic is aiming to finish as year-end No. 1 in the ATP Rankings for a record-tying sixth time. The 32-year-old needs to remain within 1,500 ATP Race To London points of Rafael Nadal this week in order to have a chance at surpassing the Spaniard at the Nitto ATP Finals. At the start of Friday play, Djokovic was 1,280 points behind the Spaniard in the Race.

Pete Sampras owns the record for most year-end No. 1 finishes on the ATP Tour. The American finished six consecutive seasons — from 1993 to 1998 — in the top spot.

The 76-time tour-level titlist will meet Grigor Dimitrov for a place in the championship match. Djokovic leads the Bulgarian 8-1 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, dropping only two sets in their past five hard-court meetings.

Tsitsipas will now prepare for his debut at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held 10-17 November at The O2 in London. The World No. 7 owns a 50-24 record in 2019, highlighted by ATP 250 title runs in Marseille and Estoril.

from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/2r4aTIo