2018 Nitto ATP Finals: Djokovic breezes past Anderson to move to the final
Flawless Novak Djokovic produced a masterclass as he easily dispatched big-serving South African Kevin Anderson 6-2, 6-2 in straight sets at the O2 Arena, London to book his place in the final of the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals.
The top-seed and firm favorite has been in tremendous form not even dropping a single set in his four matches during the week so far. "I'm very pleased I'm able to play at a high level consistently week after week for the last six months" said the Serb after his dominant display.
Anderson knew very well that if he is to have any chance of stopping the Djokovic juggernaut, he needed to be at his very best on his serve against one of the greatest returners of serve that the game has ever seen.
But things didn't go as he would have liked and the South African was able to land just 48% of his first serves in during the first set. With his main weapon not firing, Anderson had no answer as Djokovic kept blasting winners all over the court.
"I think it was the best match I've played so far this week," Djokovic said in his post-match interview. The match lasted just under an hour and a half.
Djokovic broke the Anderson serve in his very first service game and it became quite clear that it wasn't going to be his night as he was broken again at 4-2. Djokovic whose service speed averages about 110 mph is not the quickest on the tour. But his precision, placement, and dart-like accuracy have helped him tremendously over the course of the last 5 months or so after his recovery from an elbow surgery earlier this year.
Djokovic is yet to be broken in 4 matches so far this week and has faced just 2 break points all week. Asked if it was some of the best serving that he has produced, Djokovic said: "Possibly. It is not very common to serve more aces than Kevin. That stat helps the confidence."
The second set was a mirror replica of the first as Anderson struggled to find his flow on his serve as Djokovic continued his ruthless display of shot-making. Once again, he broke Anderson quickly on his first service game of the set and took an unassailable 4-1 lead by grabbing his second break of the set. Then it was a routine affair as the top-seed served out the match in majestic fashion.
Djokovic is bidding to equal Roger Federer's record tally of 6 ATP Finals and he will be up against German Alexander Zverev, whom he beat comfortably in straight sets in their round-robin match earlier this week.