Count down the best Hot Shots of the week from Paris. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com.
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Novak Djokovic carved a slice of ATP World Tour Masters 1000 history on Sunday, as the top seed defeated Andy Murray 6-2, 6-4 for the BNP Paribas Masters title, securing a single-season record sixth crown.
Djokovic, who improved to a staggering 27-4 against Top 10 opponents this year, notched a 26th Masters 1000 title. He pulled level with Ilie Nastase for 10th on the list of Open Era tour-level titlists with his 58th overall crown, bringing home €653,700 in prize money and 1,000 Emirates ATP Rankings points.
“There was couple of games in the second set where Andy started turning things around, so things could have gone different way as they did maybe yesterday against Wawrinka at same stage,” said Djokovic. “But I managed to stay tough. It was, all in all, the best performance of the week, and it came at the right time.
“I’m hoping that I can repeat the kind of performances and success I have had [at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals] in previous years. [The O2 Arena] is a great stage for a tennis tournament.”
Maintaining a high first serve percentage has been critical for Murray’s success in his previous encounters with Djokovic, and it would prove to be just as crucial on Sunday. The Serb would snatch the early initiative with a quick break to love in the third game, reeling off eight straight points. Murray converted on just two of four first serves in that game and the top seed and two-time defending champion would pounce.
The Scot looked to break right back, taking the next game to deuce with a sublime drop shot winner from the baseline, but Djokovic would shut the door, consolidating for 3-1. Murray would register an 11-minute hold in the fifth game, denying three additional break chances. Djokovic continued to conquer the baseline battle with his court position and agility, forcing Murray to engage in undesired backhand rallies from a neutral position. He would snatch a second break for 5-2 and close out the opener after 42 minutes.
An important battleground proved to be on both players’ second serves and Djokovic defended his brilliantly in the first set, with 75 per cent points won. He would look to run away with the match after breaking for 2-1 in the second set, but Murray made the most of his first break opportunity a game later. The Scot broke back, capitalising on a momentary lapse in concentration from the Serb, as a punishing second serve return of his own would secure the break to love.
Murray would have a 0/30 peek into Djokovic’s serve at 3-2, but the Serb reeled off eight of the next nine points to hold and claim the decisive break for 4-3. He would fire 10 winners, converting four of nine break chances for the victory after 92 minutes.
Not since No. 1 Stefan Edberg beat No. 2 Boris Becker in 1990 have the Top 2 seeds met for the BNP Paribas Masters title. Djokovic, who extended his winning streak to 22 straight matches, has now won 10 of his past 11 FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings with Murray, owning a 21-9 advantage overall. The two-time defending champion became the first four-time champion in Paris-Bercy history, adding to titles in 2009 (d. Monfils), 2013 (d. Ferrer) and 2014 (d. Raonic).
Murray, meanwhile, was the first British finalist at the BNP Paribas Masters since Tim Henman won the title in 2003. He was bidding to secure the year-end No. 2 spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings by defeating the Serb. He falls to 35-17 in tour-level finals and 11-5 on the Masters 1000 stage, taking home €320,500 and 600 Emirates ATP Rankings points.
“It was a pleasure to play here this week in the beautiful new stadium,” said Murray during the trophy ceremony. “Congratulations to Novak. It’s been a great year for him.
It’s been a great week for me – first time past the quarter-finals. That’s progress and I hope to be back next year.”
The doubles field is set for the 2015 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 15-22 November, as a result of final action at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris on Sunday.
Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea have clinched the eighth and final spot at the prestigious season finale, following Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo‘s victory over Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock in the French capital.
Bopanna and Mergea will join the Bryan twins, Jean Julien-Rojer and Horia Tecau, Dodig and Melo, Jamie Murray and John Peers, Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini, Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, and Marcin Matkowski and Nenad Zimonjic at the prestigious season finale.
Bopanna first qualified for the prestigious season finale in 2011 with Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, then again in 2012 with Mahesh Bhupathi. Mergea will play at The O2 for the first time. The Indian-Romanian team have a 2-2 record in ATP World Tour finals this year.
Watch the best points as Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo edge Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock in the doubles final of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. Watch live matches at http://www.tennistv.com/
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Second seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo captured their third tour-level team title of the season on Sunday as they defeated Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock 2-6, 6-3, 10-5 in the final of the BNP Paribas Masters.
Defeat for Pospisil and Sock denies them the eighth and final spot in the eight-team doubles field at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. The last berth instead goes to Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea, who will make their team debut at the season finale in London from 15-22 November.
World No. 1 Melo is on a 16-match winning streak, collecting his fourth ATP World Tour title in a row. The Brazilian – who won Tokyo and Shanghai with Raven Klaasen before victory in Vienna with Lukasz Kubot – will end the season as No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings, the first player to do so other than Bob Bryan and/or Mike Bryan since Nenad Zimonjic in 2008.
“I think the confidence I got from the last tournaments and this one with Ivan helped us to come back in one more match,” said Melo. “This year has been so special for us. It’s special for me because I’ve now won four titles in a row, I’ve become No. 1, I’m going to be year-end No. 1. So I’m very happy for that.
“We have a little bit more pressure now going into London. But it’s one tournament we love to play. We always play well there and I think our team is in the best shape now.”
Dodig and Melo lifted their first trophy together since capturing their first Grand Slam championship at Roland Garros, where they defeated the Bryans in the final. They were also victorious in Acapulco earlier in the year.
Having knocked out the Zimonjic/Matkowski, the Bryans and Inglot/Lindstedt to reach the Paris final, Pospisil and Sock made a strong start to the final, breaking serve twice to clinch the opening set. But a sterling return game from Dodig proved decisive in the sixth game of the second set as he and Melo broke Pospisil’s serve to level the match.
Pospisil and Sock twice squandered a mini-break lead in the Match Tie-break and crucial errors from the Canadian/American duo ultimately proved costly. Pospisil double faulted to lose serve at 4-4 and Sock would fire a forehand long to give Dodig and Melo an 8-5 lead. With Melo smothering the net, they went on to close out victory in 65 minutes.
“They really started sharp in the match,” said Dodig. “We didn’t have that many chances in the first set. For a set and a half they were the better team. Then suddenly we broke them for the first time and the match turned our way. In the Match Tie-break we came out a little more like ourselves and with more concentration on the important points. In the end, it was a very good match. The Match Tie-break was very exciting for the crowd and for us. We managed to win, which is great for us.”
Pospisil and Sock narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Final Showdown for the second year in a row. The 2014 Wimbledon champions also finished ninth in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London last year. They were chasing their third title of the season, to add to victories at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and the China Open in Beijing.
Watch Highlights as Novak Djokovic retains his Paris title. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com.
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Riding a 21-match winning streak, World No. 1 Novak Djokovic stands to etch out several more slices of history should he defeat second seed Andy Murray when the two go toe to toe in Sunday’s BNP Paribas Masters decider. With the final to mark the end of the ATP World Tour regular season, the Serb will look to cap an already astonishing run this against a player he has beaten five times this year and fallen to just once.
Djokovic is now just one match shy of becoming the first player to capture six ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles in a season since the events were linked in 1990 and is trying to become the first four-time champion in tournament history, surpassing his coach Boris Becker and former World No. 1 Marat Safin’s trio of Paris titles. It would mark the second time in his career after 2011 he has won 10 titles in a season.
With his three-set triumph over his Roland Garros nemesis Stan Wawrinka in the semi-finals, Djokovic became the first player in the Open Era to reach 14 straight finals in a calendar year, with his last pre-final defeat coming in the Doha quarter-finals to Ivo Karlovic at the start of the year. Roger Federer reached 17 straight finals but across two seasons in 2005 and 2006. Not since top seed Stefan Edberg beat second-seeded Becker in 1990 have the top two seed met for the Paris title.
Murray, the first British finalist since Tim Henman won the title in 2003, will secure the year-end No. 2 ranking by defeating the Serb. The Scot has never finished a season higher than No. 3, doing so in 2012 after claiming the Olympic gold medal and US Open.
Murray is appearing in his seventh different ATP Masters 1000 final, only missing Monte-Carlo and Rome. Djokovic has played in all nine ATP Masters 1000 finals, with Cincinnati the sole title he has yet to claim. In 2015 alone, the Serb has won ATP Masters 1000 titles at Indian Wells, Miami, Monte-Carlo, Rome and Shanghai. Murray has dropped one set en route to the final, beating Richard Gasquet in a three-set semi-final on Friday but will need to defy the pair’s FedEx Head2Head record, in which Djokovic has won nine of his past 10 meetings with the Scot (20-9 overall).
In the doubles final, unseeded Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock are playing for their second ATP Masters 1000 title, as well as the eighth and final spot at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. However, if the 25-year-old Canadian and 23-year-old American fall to No. 2 seeds Marcelo Melo and Ivan Dodig, then BNP Paribas Masters quarter-finalists Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea will secure the last ticket to London on November 15.
The BNP Paribas Masters is Pospisil and Sock’s 12th event of the season, fewest among the Top 10 teams in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race to London. They’ve also overcome a five-match summer losing streak, winning the Beijing title in October to get back in the race.
That win will be difficult to come by against Melo and Dodig. Melo is on a 15-match winning streak, including three titles in as many weeks at Tokyo (w/Raven Klaasen), the Shanghai Rolex Masters (w/Klaasen) and Vienna (w/Lukasz Kubot). The 32-year-old Brazilian arrived in Paris as the new No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings, and he will leave as the year-end No. 1. Melo is the first year-end No. 1 other than Bob or Mike Bryan since Nenad Zimonjic in 2008. He joins countryman and good friend Gustavo Kuerten, who topped the year-end singles rankings in 2000.
![Djokovic: "Stan Stole My Court"](https://www.tenniscourtsmap.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/paris-2015-saturday-novak.jpg "Djokovic: "Stan Stole My Court"")
A World No. 1 rocking up to practise only to find the opponent for his next big clash using his practice court would be enough to send many archrivals into a tailspin. Not Novak Djokovic if that opponent is Stan Wawrinka.
After claiming the 25th installment in their rivalry in the BNP Parisbas Masters in Paris on Saturday, the Serb shed some light on the practice double booking. “He stole my court,” Djokovic joked, before explaining the relationship he shared with the only player to have beaten him in the majors in the past two years.
“I feel like (I have) a very special relationship with Stan, I think like no other top player, honestly. I do appreciate that. I do enjoy that good relationship we have. I think that was strengthened even more after Roland Garros final.”
It was in that final that the Swiss player denied Djokovic the career Grand Slam, the only major final he would lose in 2015. It would be the second time Wawrinka had defeated the Serb on his way to a Grand Slam title.
“Of course it was probably the biggest win he ever had and it was disappointing for me to lose that, but I felt like we had that special connection in the end,” Djokovic said. “Look, at the end of the day, we are friends, we are people. Of course we both want to win. When we get on the court, it’s all about business and getting the job done. You do everything that you can to win. But once the match is over, I mean, why not share some nice moments and joke around?”
Djokovic downplayed talk of Wawrinka being the player whose heavy, flashy shot-making had the ability to scare him more than any other player’s. “He scares me with his presence, with his fancy shorts from Roland Garros,” he grinned. “He is trying to provoke me with that, he put it on the bag. We were joking around in the locker-room about that.
“Definitely he’s one of the players that can push me backwards. The game at this level, most of the players are trying to protect the baseline, trying to own the baseline and trying to dictate the play. So it’s a little bit of play of cat and mouse who can stay on the line more.
“I agree that he’s definitely one of the guys that can do that. Not scare me, but push me back, back and forth.”
Marcelo Melo will end the year ranked No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings after teaming up with Ivan Dodig to defeat Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek 4-6, 6-3, 10-5 in the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Masters on Saturday.
Tribute: Melo Climbs To No. 1
Melo recorded his 49th win of 2015 and is aiming for a sixth tour-level title in what has been a career year. This season, he has captured ATP World Tour titles in Acapulco (w/ Dodig), Tokyo (w/ Klaasen), Shanghai (w/ Klaasen) and Vienna (w/ Kubot), plus his first Grand Slam crown at Roland Garros with Dodig.
The Croatian-Brazilian duo, currently ranked fourth as a team, will move to No. 3 thanks to their run to the final in Paris. Dodig/Melo, who are 29-10 when playing together in 2015, struck seven aces in the 76-minute win and landed 73 per cent of first serves.
Dodig/Melo are already qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. On Sunday, they will face Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock, who are playing for the eighth and final spot at the prestigious year-end showdown.
His run of straight sets was ended at 29 as he faced his sternest test in two months, but it was not enough to throw Novak Djokovic off his stride as the World No. 1 finished with aplomb to defeat Stan Wawrinka 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 on Saturday to reach the final of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris.
The Serb will face Andy Murray in Sunday’s final and goes into the contest on a 21-match winning streak, dating back to the Cincinnati title match on 23 August, when he was beaten by Roger Federer.
Murray will look to halt that run and record his second win this season over Djokovic, having beaten the Serb in the final of the Rogers Cup in Montreal. But Djokovic has defeated the Scot on five other occasions in 2015, most recently for the loss of just four games in the Shanghai semi-finals.
“It’s always a special kind of challenge because we have the rivalry that goes back for a long time,” said Djokovic. “We played just recently in Shanghai. I played one of my best matches against him. I’m hoping I can play as well as I did there. But I’m sure that he’s going to try to do something different.
“I have seen he is playing some terrific tennis this week. He’s feeling good. It’s going to be a close one. No question about it. It always is. It’s always very physical, also very psychologically demanding. We push each other to the limit, and I don’t expect anything less from that.”
Incredibly, the 28-year-old Djokovic will contest his 14th tour-level final in a row – an Open Era record. The right-hander has not failed to reach the title match at a tournament since the very first week of the season, when he was beaten in the Doha quarter-finals by Ivo Karlovic.
Djokovic recorded his ATP-best 77th win of the season as he overcame Wawrinka’s challenge in one hour and 51 minutes. Wawrinka had been responsible for denying Djokovic a slice of history when he stunned the Serb in the Roland Garros final in May, but despite his best efforts and some dazzling tennis, ultimately came out on the losing side in Paris to fall to a 4-19 mark in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.
An early service break proved decisive in the first set and Djokovic seemed poised to put his foot down in the second set as he went up 2-0. But Wawrinka’s best was yet to come. The Swiss raised his level to earn his first break points of the contest in the fourth game and converted his fifth as Djokovic volleyed long to get back on serve.
Wawrinka then turned the set on his head with another service break in the sixth game as Djokovic’s forehand landed long and then fended off three break points in the following game to secure a 5-2 lead. The Lausanne native served out to level the match and end Djokovic’s incredible run of sets won, which dated back to a four-set victory over Federer in the US Open final.
How would Djokovic react to losing a set? By raising his game to another level. It served as a catalyst for the Serb who raced away with the third set with three service breaks, taking his tally in decisive sets this year to 16-2, with four of those by a 6-0 scoreline.
“I thought in the second, even though I lost the set, I felt there were games that were very close,” assessed Djokovic. “I had close games and break points and I felt I’m there.
“Credit to Stan for playing a great second set and coming back, winning five games in a row, obviously serving more accurately, playing more powerfully from the baseline, getting more balls back, and it worked for him. He played very well.
“But I still felt like I was hitting the ball well. With this kind of feeling and approach, I got to the third set and played the best set of the tournament so far.”
“The beginning [of the third set] was important,” said Wawrinka, who had edged Rafael Nadal in a late-finishing quarter-final on Friday night. “Unfortunately, he started to play well. I did a few mistakes, first three games, and then he started to relax and play too fast. I had no more energy to come back at 0-3. He started to play his best game when he played really fast and went for winners. Then it was really tough.”
Djokovic is bidding to win the Paris crown for the fourth time, following victories in 2009 (d. Monfils), 2013 (d. Ferrer) and 2014 (d. Raonic). It would be his 26th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown and 10th trophy of the season.