Serbian Novak Djokovic advanced to his 20th ATP World Tour final on Saturday, after the third seed knocked out No. 13 seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 on a bright, but windy, day at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, the third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tennis tournament of the 2009 ATP World Tour season.
The 21-year-old Djokovic reached his first final at the Monte-Carlo Country Club, after retiring due to dizziness in the semi-finals last year to Roger Federer. He improved to 26-8 on the 2009 ATP World Tour season by advancing to his third ATP World Tour final of the year, where he will look to clinch his 13th career trophy.
Djokovic started the first semi-final of the day in positive fashion, but was unable to convert one break point in the second game and a further three break points two games later. Wawrinka dug deep at the start of the pair’s ninth meeting, riding his luck to 4-4 before Djokovic gifted him a double fault and a chance to serve for the first set at 5-4. Wawrinka confidently closed out the 56-minute opening set, when Djokovic struck a forehand into the net, in front of a capacity crowd on Court Central.
Since losing to Ernests Gulbis in the Brisbane first round in January, Djokovic has been a model of consistency reaching the quarter-finals or better at his next seven tournaments. So the Monte-Carlo resident was not going to surrender easily. The 21-year-old dropped just 15 points in a 6-1 second-set that lasted 35 minutes. Wawrinka won just seven points on serve and the tide looked to have turned going into a deciding set for a second time in their career series.
Roger Federer’s third-round conqueror had other ideas. Djokovic hit successive groundstroke errors in the second game to give Wawrinka a 2-0 lead, which could have been 3-0 had Wawrinka not hit a forehand stroke destined to hit the tramline narrowly wide on game point.
Djokovic responded by rattling off four successive games for a 4-2 lead and the chances of Wawrinka avenging last year’s ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rome final defeat evaporated. Wawrinka fought back from 15-40 at 3-5, but Djokovic was not to be denied on his third match point, pinning Wawrinka behind the baseline before executing a perfect forehand approach winner for victory in two hours and 28 minutes.
Afterwards, Wawrinka pinpointed his inability to hold serve for 3-0 in the deciding set as the reason for his ultimate demise: "I am very frustrated and disappointed. I was up 2-0 and I had this opportunity to go up 3-0. I lost that game and the game at 2-2. These two games made me lose the match.
"He's a very good player. He's been in the top three for two or three years already. He knows how to do everything. He knows how to volley and to move. He's very tough physically, too. Today I had the impression, though, I had everything to be able to beat him. But in the third set, when I had opportunities, I rushed too much, and he was the one who came out the winner."
Djokovic is now joint-third with newly-wed American Andy Roddick (26-5) among 2009 ATP World Tour match wins leaders. Only Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray have won more matches in the first four months of the year.
The World No. 3 will next meet four-time defending champion Nadal in the final on Sunday.
(From Website : http://www.atpworldtour.com/TENNIS/1/EN/NEWS/NEWSARTICLE_3247.ASP)
