Defiant Djokovic sets up Ferrer last-8 clash
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TWO-TIME defending champion Novak Djokovic will have to overcome the challenge from world No. 5 David Ferrer before a potential semifinal clash against Roger Federer at the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
The world No. 1 overcame Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the third round at Qizhong Tennis Stadium in suburban Minhang District last night, their first ATP World Tour meeting, while Ferrer fought back from a set down to knock out Andy Murray.
No. 3 Federer beat Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 6-4, 6-2 in a late match.
Spaniard Ferrer will replace Britain’s Murray in ninth spot in the race for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London. There are five berths still up for grabs in the eight-man tournament.
Djokovic, who has already locked up his spot in London, probably did not expect the kind of resistance he faced from Kukushkin, who matched the Serb shot for shot for most of the match before being overpowered in the third set.
Djokovic broke Kukushkin for a 5-3 lead before closing out the first set but the Kazakh roared back into contention to stretch the contest to a decider.
Djokovic broke his opponent in the fifth game of the third set and went on to seal a quarterfinal clash with Ferrer, who beat Murray 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 earlier.
Murray started the stronger, breaking Ferrer twice to claim the first set before the Spaniard did the same in the next one. Coming into the decider, Ferrer retained his hot form and powered some brilliant returns towards the line, forcing two-time champion Murray out of the Shanghai tournament.
“Today was (against) Andy Murray, and I needed to play my best tennis,” Ferrer said. “Yesterday was (my) first match, never easy. Martin (Klizan) was playing with confidence. Today I played differently.” Ferrer fended off Klizan in the second round on Wednesday.
Murray was gracious in defeat.
“He (Ferrer) literally barely missed a ball for about a set and a half. I couldn’t find a way around him. I was still hitting the ball pretty clean and making him do a lot of running for some very tough shots. He just didn’t miss. It was a shame for me, but it was great for him,” the Scot said.
Elsewhere, sixth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych beat Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 6-4 to set up a quarterfinal clash against Frenchman Gilles Simon, who ousted Malek Jaziri of Tunisia 6-2, 6-3.
Also advancing were Julien Benneteau of France and Russian Mikhail Youzhny.
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