Djokovic Books Semi-Final Spot in London After Defeating Berdych

Djokovic defeated Berdych 6-3, 7-5 tonight to qualify in second place in group Smith after Federer qualified first earlier today with a hard-fought 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Nishikori.

I only started watching Federer’s match at the end of the second set when he dropped serve to give Nishikori the second set. Then at the start of the decider Nishikori refused three break points at 40-0 on Federer’s serve and as you’d expect he was toast after that.

He didn’t have the balls to defeat Federer, but he did give Federer a long physical match.

As for Djokovic, he was better than he was against Federer(not that it means anything) but he wasn’t particularly impressive. That is just how he rolls. He does what is needed and plays his best tennis when it is needed.

I’m starting to think the loss to Federer was a good thing or maybe even a kind of tank. Djokovic was brilliant in his first match against Nishikori but ever since has failed to impress.

He does this in slams too where he just does the necessary in early rounds. Expect him to hit peak form again for the semis but especially the final.

• Group Nastase

When I last posted Stan still had to play Ferrer and he won that 7-5, 6-2 after trailing 2-5 in the first set. That was a nice way to hit back after the disappointing loss to Nadal and he now plays Murray to decide who qualifies second in this group assuming Nadal defeats Ferrer.

I think Nadal will defeat Ferrer given the form he has showed which would leave a very interesting knock-out round between Stan and Murray.

That looks like the likely scenario in which case Federer and Nadal won’t play each other in the semis since they both won their group. That would be very unfortunate but who knows maybe Nadal will feel sorry for Ferrer and give him a win so he has a chance of playing Federer in the semis.

Nadal has already qualified for the semis far as I know so he can afford to lose. But if he played Djokovic in the semis that would be fun too. For Federer to have a shot at the title he’d have to probably play someone else than Nadal in the semis.

It’s doubtful whether he would be able to go through Nadal and Djokovic to win the title. I think this event is shaping up nicely anyway. You have both Federer and Nadal who’s been looking good and then you have Djokovic who you know will raise his game for the semis and finals.

I hope Stan qualifies second in group Nastase. I wouldn’t want to see another one-sided Fedray match. Another Fedrinka match like last year would be just what the doctor ordered.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

The is in your court.