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Djokovic beats Federer in Paris epic

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4th November, 2018
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Novak Djokovic will face Russian Karen Khachanov in the Paris Masters decider after the Serb ousted Swiss great Roger Federer in their three-hour semi-final.

Novak Djokovic has ruined Roger Federer’s ambitions of a 100th career title as he outlasted his great adversary 7-6(6) 5-7 7-6(3) in an epic Paris Masters semi-final that stretched his remarkable unbeaten run to 22 matches.

In a 47th meeting between the greats, Djokovic simply refused to be beaten on Saturday as he eked out a fourth successive victory over Federer in a tiebreak decider after three compelling hours.

It gave the Serbian the opportunity to mark his return to world No.1 on Monday by winning a record-extending fifth Paris title in Sunday’s final against Russian Karen Khachanov, who earlier crushed Dominic Thiem 6-4 6-1.

Djokovic, who had complained of flu-like symptoms this week, was proud and relieved to repel a wonderful challenge from Federer.

“We’ve had epic matches throughout our rivalry but this one definitely ranks as one of the best matches we played. High-quality tennis,” Djokovic told reporters.

“Next to the match I played against (Rafael) Nadal in the Wimbledon semis, this was definitely the most exciting match I’ve played this year and probably the best-quality match that I was part of.”

Even though he wasn’t broken once, it still wasn’t enough for the 37-year-old Swiss, whose nerve failed him in an anticlimactic final tiebreak in which he served a double fault and made two more careless groundstroke errors.

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“For the most part I can be happy. My level was good but losing is never fun,” Federer said.

“Novak is obviously on a roll. You can feel it.”

Federer was seeking to become only the second man after Jimmy Connors to win a century of professional tour titles following his 99th win in Basel.

The 20-time grand slam champion lost the first set despite having held set point in the tiebreak and had Djokovic in trouble in the final set when the Serb received a code violation at 4-4 for chucking away his racquet in disgust after the Swiss had saved two break points.

Ultimately, though, Federer, who saved all 12 break points on his serve, saw his resilience ended as Djokovic extended his career lead over the Swiss to 25-22.

Earlier, Khachanov showed why he’s one of the finest young talents in tennis with a thunderous victory over Thiem.

The 22-year-old, 1.98m Russian, already the owner of two indoor hard court titles this year, crushed his Austrian friend and practice partner in 70 one-sided minutes.

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“It was one of my best matches and what I’m happy about is that I was increasing my level, which shows that I’m becoming a better player,” Khachanov said.

The 18th-ranked Muscovite overpowered a third top-10 player in successive days, having hammered Alexander Zverev in the quarters and defeated John Isner in the last 16.

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