Will Djokovic, Federer Reproduce Their 2018 Paris Epic This Week?

Will Paris fans be treated to another epic between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer this week? If so, it will happen in the Rolex Paris Masters final as the third-seeded Federer has been drawn on the opposite half of the top-seeded Djokovic, who’s going for a record-extending fifth title in Paris.

The two all-time greats faced off last year in the semi-finals, producing a classic match that was named ATPTour.com’s “Best ATP Match Of 2018”. The three-hour-and-two-minute encounter was the longest three-set match of their storied FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry and saw a flurry of hot shots from both sides. Read Match Report

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Federer was trying to book a place in the final and go for his 100^th tour-level title in France, while Djokovic was looking to roll into the ATP Masters 1000 title match and win his 22^nd consecutive contest.

The Swiss unleashed 54 winners and saved all 12 break points faced, but it was Djokovic, in the final set tie-break, who finally pulled away and beat Federer for the third consecutive time to make the final (l. to Khachanov).

The two had another historic tussle in July at Wimbledon, where Djokovic extended his winning streak to four against Federer 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6(4), 4-6, 13-12(3). Should they meet again in Paris, it would be only their second encounter this season, but the 49^th instalment of their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry (Djokovic leads 26-22).

Federer is fresh off his 10^thSwiss Indoors Basel title (d. De Minaur), while Djokovic last played at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, where he fell to Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals.