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Serbian world number three Novak Djokovic survived a second-set
implosion to beat Russian Nikolay Davydenko 7-6 0-6 7-5 on
Wednesday and become the first player into the semi-finals of the
Masters Cup.
The 21-year-old, who lost all three of his matches on his Masters
Cup debut last year but won his opener against Juan Martin Del
Potro on Monday, is guaranteed to top Gold Group after prevailing
in a two-hour, 18-minute encounter.
Argentine Del Potro beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 7-6 in the other
group match to keep alive his hopes of reaching the knockout stage
and end those of the Frenchman.
Davydenko, who beat Tsonga in his Monday opener, will now have to
beat Del Potro in a winner-takes-all encounter on Friday to reach
the Masters Cup semi-finals for a second time.
The 27-year-old Russian was at his dogged best at the start of
Wednesday's match and broke the second-seeded Australian Open
champion on his first service game.
Djokovic held his nerve, however, broke back when the world number
five was serving for the set and raced to a 4-0 lead in the
tiebreak that followed.
A couple of aces gave him set point, which the Russian fourth seed
conceded with a double fault.
The young Serbian fell apart in the second set, smashing his racket
about and clearly seething when a line call and subsequent
challenge went against him.
Davydenko, a seasoned campaigner playing in his fourth Masters Cup,
seized his chance to even up the match in 26 minutes and grabbed
two break points in Djokovic's first service game of the deciding
set.
Djokovic, though, regained his composure and battled back to save
his serve. The match looked destined for another tiebreak when he
broke for 6-5 and served out for victory.
Seventh seed Del Potro broke Tsonga's first service game and,
although the Frenchman broke back, always looked the more likely to
win a tight contest.
"I know his game," said the 20-year-old Del Potro. "I know what can
I do against this player, and that's what I did today. I played
very good."
Sixth seed Tsonga served up 17 aces and rattled home 42 winners but
that good work was undone by 38 unforced errors, the last of which
came when he put the ball in the net to end the second
tiebreak.
"I lost with two tiebreaks," said the 23-year-old Frenchman,
runner-up to Djokovic at this year's Australian Open. "I know he
played better than me in the tiebreak. I missed some easy balls and
that's it."
