World number one Novak Djokovic ended Britain number one Andy Murray’s winning streak by a straight-sets win in the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters.
Murray, who was seeking his 12th win in a row, lost 7-5, 6-2 against the defending champion in one hour and 41 minutes. He has lost all four matches against the Serb this year and would now take a week off before the end-of-season World Tour Finals in London.
Djokovic will next face Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the last four in Paris, The BBC reported.
Murray has played 23 matches over the past six weeks, winning three titles, and could not prevent the Serb from winning the final five games of the match as fatigue took its toll.
But the Scot had already achieved a major goal by qualifying for the Tour finals with his win over Grigor Dimitrov on Thursday.
In light of Murray’s defeat, Djokovic said that the first set was tight, the second set he got up a break and lost his way a little bit. He also said that he saw some stats after they finished and as soon as the rallies got over five shots he was winning more.
But Djokovic added that the rallies that finished before five shots, he thinks Murray won 25 more points. He said that that would suggest that the Scot was serving better and he didn’t return as well as him.
Djokovic also said that it has been a positive run over the last few weeks and now he would get a bit of rest and ready for London.
The result was a boost for Djokovic’s chances of ending the year at the top of the world rankings, especially as his nearest rival Roger Federer lost his quarterfinal to Milas Raonic.
Raonic’s place, and the rest of the line-up at the World Tour Finals, was confirmed as Japan’s Kei Nishikori beat Spain’s David Ferrer 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 and became the first Asian-born singles player to qualify for the event.
Earlier in the day, Czech fifth seed Tomas Berdych secured his place with a 6-7 (7-4), 6-4, 6-4 over South African Kevin Anderson, the report added.
—-ANI