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November 21, 2016

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Murray, Djokovic set up gripping final

ANDY Murray and Novak Djokovic set up a shootout for both the ATP finals title and the year-end No. 1 ranking.

The world’s top two players had contrasting wins in the semifinals in London’s at O2 Arena on Saturday, with Murray surviving a match point to beat Milos Raonic 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (9) in 3 hours, 38 minutes, the longest ever three-setter in the ATP finals.

Djokovic needed just 66 minutes to dispatch Kei Nishikori 6-1, 6-1.

Murray arrived at the tournament simply needing to do better than Djokovic to finish the year at No. 1, a position he has held since winning the Paris Masters two weeks ago.

Now, that means winning the final.

“This has never happened in the history of tennis,” Djokovic said of the winner-takes-all match. “I’m privileged to be part of the history. This is one of the biggest matches we will ever play against each other.”

Djokovic might just be in better shape after overwhelming Nishikori.

“I pretty much executed everything I tactically planned to do,” Djokovic said. “My level had been going in the right direction. I’m very glad I get to experience this feeling on the court. Now it’s coming up to the last match of the year, the match everybody anticipated.”

After squandering chances while serving for the match twice, Murray converted on his fourth match point during the tiebreaker to finally come through.

“It was unbelievably tough,” Murray said. “I had to fight very, very hard. Being broken twice serving for the match was frustrating. It was one of the harder matches I’ve played indoors.”




 

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