Novak Djokovic has defeated Rafael Nadal 7-6, (7-5), 6-3 to record his second win in Group B of the ATP World Tour Finals in London.
Heading into the match, the world No.3 had beaten his Spanish opponent just six times in twenty attempts but he got off to the ideal start by breaking the Nadal serve in the very first game.
An uncertain service game from Djokovic followed in game four in which he faced break point, though the defending champion recovered to hold his serve. Nadal eventually made the breakthrough in the eighth game of the match as the set drifted towards a tie-break.
And it was Djokovic who held his nerve to take the first set tie-break, converting his fourth set point to move one step closer to the victory he needed to stay on course for the semi-finals.
The first set had yielded 43 unforced errors between the pair and as the second set progressed, the errors continued with Nadal returning from a medical timeout to drop serve in the fourth game.
The No.3 seed managed to maintain that advantage and closed out the win with a booming serve after Nadal had showed his usual fighting spirit in taking a 30-0 lead in what proved to be the final game of his ATP World Tour Finals campaign.
In the doubles match this afternoon, Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram defeated Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes 7-6 (1), 6-4 to secure their second victory in Group B over the No.4 seeds and two time Grand Slam champions, serving nine aces and winning 73% of their first serve points.
The win ensures the pair make the semi-finals with a 2-1 match record and a 5-2 win to loss set record. Despite squandering a 5-1 lead in the opening set, Mirnyi and Ram took the tie-break 7-1 and then broke their opponents serve three times in the second set before serving out for victory in 75 minutes.
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