Djokovic faces Murray in Paris final

PARIS (AFP) – Top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic will take on second seed Andy Murray in Sunday’s Paris Masters final in the latest instalment of their long rivalry.

In Saturday’s semis, Djokovic defeated Stan Wawrinka 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 for his 21st straight win dating back to August 23, while Murray edged past David Ferrer 6-4, 6-3.

Paris is the last of the nine Masters 1000 series for the season with Djokovic having already won five and Murray two.

The win over Wawrinka was sweet revenge for world number one Djokovic, who lost the French Open final to the Swiss star on the other side of Paris in June.

That prevented the 28-year-old Serb from completing his career haul of Grand Slam titles.

As he subsequently won the Wimbledon and US Open titles, having already wrapped up the Australian Open, it also stopped him from becoming just the third man, after Don Budge and Rod Laver, to win all four Grand Slam titles in the same year.

‘’Credit to Stan for playing a great second set and coming back, winning five games in a row, obviously serving more accurately, playing more powerful from the baseline back of the court, getting more balls back, and it worked for him. He played very well,’’ Djokovic said.

It was his most comprehensive win over Ferrer since a 6-2, 6-3 win in Tokyo in 2011 and moved him 11-6 clear in their head-to-heads.

Djokovic and Murray have played each other 29 times on the ATP Tour with Djokovic winning 20, and the Serb has won nine of their last 10 encounters, including their most recent matchup, a straight sets victory at the Shanghai Masters last month.