Djoko routs Goffin, Raonic enters last-4
London, Nov. 18: Novak Djokovic crushed David Goffin 6-1, 6-2 at the ATP Tour Finals on Thursday as the world number two kept his foot on the gas in the race to finish the year atop the world rankings.
Djokovic had already qualified for the semifinals as group winner, but the Serb was keen to keep the momentum going in his bid to overhaul world number one Andy Murray and he took just 69 minutes to demolish Goffin at London’s O2 Arena.
Joining Djokovic in the last-four is Milos Raonic, who defeated Dominic Thiem 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 to become the first Canadian to reach the semifinals of the Tour Finals.
Djokovic has been in a prolonged slump since winning the French Open for the first time in June, sparking rumours about his private life and questions about his recent involvement with a ‘spiritual guru’ as he lost the top ranking to Murray.
But the decline is all relative as the 29-year-old has now won 21 of his last 22 matches at the Tour Finals, keeping him on course to win the tournament for a fifth successive year and recordequalling sixth time in total.
Djokovic is now 70 points ahead of Murray in the ATP’s ‘as it stands’ rankings, although he already knew winning the tournament would give him the year-end pole position whatever happened against Goffin.
In Thursday’s evening session, Raonic maintained his remarkable success in London this year with a powerful display that secured the runners-up spot in the group.
The world number four had enjoyed impressive runs to the Wimbledon and Queen’s finals on the other side of the capital and he saw off Thiem in 90 minutes to reach his ninth semi-final of the year.