Tennis News

After going a combined 24-4 against their respective opponents to start their World Tour Finals campaigns, Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka will renew their rivalry once more when they cross paths for a 19th time on the professional tour. Djokovic leads the series 15-3, but Wawrinka won their only meeting in 2014 back at the start of the season in Melbourne en route to his maiden Grand Slam title. Check out the Djokovic v Wawrinka Head to Head.

Coming off a successful title defense at the Paris Bercy, Djokovic found his form early in the first group match against Marin Cilic and maintained command en route to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over the reigning US Open champion. It was an impeccable showing from the Serb, and a disastrous display from the Croat.

While all their previous matches this season went to deciding sets, including a five-set marathon at Wimbledon, Djokovic took advantage of Cilic’s poor serving and timid shot making to pressure the Croat and force him around the court in awkward angles. The win advances his undefeated record against Cilic to 11-0.

“Winning in straight sets helps a lot for the rest of the tournament,” said Djokovic, who is riding a 28-match indoor winning streak. “But I’m going to try to win every match I play.”

In the opening match on Monday, Wawrinka stormed past Czech No. 1 Tomas Berdych to pick up one of his most impressive victories of the season. The Swiss No. 1 needed only 58 minutes to dispatch Berdych 6-1, 6-1. According to ATPWorldTour.com, it was the fewest number of games he has lost against a Top 10 opponent all season.

“I didn’t expect to win that easy,” said Wawrinka. “But I was ready to play well. I had a great week of preparation. Even if the result wasn’t there in Basel and Paris, I was feeling the ball really well on the practice court.

“When I feel good on the court, I’m ready to beat everybody. It’s never easy, but you have to fight for it.”

While Wawrinka has not had the most inspiring of seasons post-US Open, his destruction of Berdych breathes new life into Group A and puts heft expectations on his coming encounter with Djokovic. The two competitors have taken part in some of the most memorable matches of the past two seasons, and could add another epic to their series on Wednesday afternoon.

After a humdrum few days of matches, this one promises to live up to expectations.

Prediction: Novak Djokovic in Three Sets

Following dreadful starts I their respective encounters on Monday, US Open champion Marin Cilic and Czech No. 1 Tomas Berdych will be looking to redeem themselves with better performances in their second matches in Group A. A loss here would almost surely mean the end of their run at the prestigious year-end championships – something neither man will be looking forward to. Berdych leads the head-to-head series 5-4 but they split their only two previous indoor meetings, which only adds to the overall selling point of the match. In their last encounter, the Croat overcame the Czech in the US Open quarter-finals in straight sets.

Follow the match live here: Tomas Berdych v Marin Cilic

Although he had pushed Djokovic in all three of their previous meetings this season, including a five set thriller at the Wimbledon Championships, Marin Cilic was unable to assert himself in his World Tour Final debut and simply crumbled against an aggressive Djokovic. While Cilic appeared promising in his opening service game, he was unable to win more than two games in the entire match, and didn’t even hold serve in the second set.

“I felt that Novak played really, really solid today,” said Cilic. “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.”

Another pair of breadsticks occurred in the Monday match-up between Tomas Berdych and Stan Wawrinka, as the Czech No. 1 was blown off court by his Swiss adversary with a 6-1, 6-1 end result. Berdych, who struck 20 unforced errors, admitted that it was quite possibly his worst match of the season. This is made particularly worse when you consider Wawrinka’s terrible 1-4 run throughout the Fall.

“Unfortunately, it was my worst match of the whole season and I kept it for the start here,” said Berdych. “Today, I didn’t really feel anything right. I can just keep fighting and try to play good tennis.”

This marks the tenth time that Cilic and Berdych will meet on the professional tour and will likely serve as one of their more pivotal encounters yet. Both were embarrassed in their WTF openers and will be looking to avenge themselves with sharper performances and a victory to keep their hopes alive.

Prediction: Marin Cilic in Three Sets