ATP World Tour Finals day 4 preview: Djokovic faces Wawrinka and Cilic takes on Berdych
Group A action resumes on Wednesday with Tomas Berdych squaring off against Marin Cilic and later the big match between World No.1 Novak Djokovic and 2014 Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka facing off one another.
Having lost both of their opening encounters, it certainly will be a do-or-die match for both Berdych and Cilic on Wednesday. Berdych was beaten 6-1 6-1 by Stanislas Wawrinka in his first match and Cilic, too lost by the same margin to Djokovic. Berdych, however leads the head-to-head 5-4.
The 29-year-old Czech Republican had said his performance against Wawrinka was his worst of the season and he will hope to put up a good performance in the coming games.
“Unfortunately, it was my worst match of the whole season and I kept it for the start here.Today, I didn’t really feel anything right. I can just keep fighting and try to play good tennis,” Berdych said.
Berdych’s opponent Cilic, said after the loss to Djokovic that he felt a bit rusty during the match and the Serb took full advantage of that.
“I felt that Novak played really, really solid today. I felt a little bit uncomfortable on the court, rusty… I felt that I was not hitting it clean. That’s always difficult, especially against Novak, to get away with a win when you’re not playing so good,” Cilic said.
A ripper of a match on the cards
The second match of the evening promises to be an absolute cracker with Novak Djokovic taking on Stan Wawrinka. Both players are coming off convincing wins in their first matches and the spectators can look forward to an exciting contest.
Speaking about his win over Cilic, Djokovic said that he and his team had analysed the Croat’s game well-in-advance and that helped him during the match.
"I was preparing myself for this match. I knew already one week ago that I'm going to play Marin at 8pm on Monday. My team did good scouting. We thought about what's the game plan. I stepped in and executed really well,” the 27-year-old said.
Wawrinka, on the other hand, felt that he can expect a tough game against the 7-time-grand slam champion.
"For me, when I play against him it's always tough, but I can always find a solution,” he said.
“When I feel good on the court, I'm ready to beat everybody,” he added.
Match Schedule
Tomas Berdych vs Marin Cilic 7:30 P.M IST
Novak Djokovic vs Stan Wawrinka 1:30 A.M IST (Thursday)