The world number one, the Serbian Novak Djokovic fell on Friday defeated in the Masters Cup in London against his compatriot Janko Tipsarevic 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in two hours and seven minutes.
The world number one, the Serbian Novak Djokovic fell on Friday defeated in the Masters Cup in London against his compatriot Janko Tipsarevic 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in two hours and seven minutes.
Djokovic fits their second straight loss at the O2 Arena in London, the sixth of the season after losing to David Ferrer Spanish two days ago, and complicated his move to the semifinals of the tournament that brings together the eight best players in the world.
After winning a single match of the three that make up the group stage of the Masters Cup, the world number one was left out of the semifinals to see Ferrer could not beat Czech Tomas Berdych.
At the end of a long season in which the Serb has signed one of the best careers in the history of tennis, Djokovic arrived in London dragging physical problems that have forced him to miss several tournaments.
Djokovic struggled to impose Berdych in the first game, lost to Ferrer in the greatest defeat that has suffered a number one ranking in the ATP in the last twenty-eight years (6-3, 6-1) and was beaten today sign up for Tipsarevic after the first set.
The Serbian skip to the need to impose his countryman clearly if he wanted to secure their passage to the semifinals, while Tipsarevic, already eliminated, appeared before the world number one without any pressure.
The ninth-ranked entered as a substitute in the Masters Cup to replace the Scot Andy Murray, number three, who had to retire through injury.
After losing their first match against Berdych, Tipsarevic kept no options to overcome the group stage, but later found the motivation to do well against the player who has won three of the four majors this season.
`Nole´ does not give the key
Djokovic overpowered his opponent in the opening stages and broke his compatriot to stay ahead on the scoreboard in the first set, an advantage that Tipsarevic was unable to overcome.
Number one was asserting its regularity in the serve and accuracy in trade from the bottom of the track, while Tipsarevic showed too vague in the first service of those who failed more than 50 percent in the initial part.
With the match on track, Djokovic let loose a bit on her game at the start of the second set, a fact that his opponent took advantage to hit back and score the second.
Despite committing unforced errors than the first-seeded nearly forty during the match, the third and final set was the most balanced of the meeting, but in the end was Tipsarevic, who managed to win to confirm another surprise has the Masters Cup in store.