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A22     SPORTS
                Saturday 7 January 2017
                 Defending champ Djokovic to face top-ranked Murray in final




            SANDRA HARWITT                                                                         physical  battles,  long  ral-  the  third  set  to  finally  take
             Associated Press                                                                      lies, entertaining matches,”  control. Djokovic, who only
            DOHA,  Qatar  (AP)  —  De-                                                             said  the  second-ranked  had  one  unforced  error
            fending  champion  No-                                                                 Djokovic, who beat Murray  in  the  final  set,  sealed  the
            vak    Djokovic    survived                                                            in last  year’s French Open  match  by  breaking  Ver-
            five  match  points  to  beat                                                          final.                       dasco’s serve.
            Fernando  Verdasco  and                                                                “Between  one  and  two  “It’s  tough  to  lose  against
            set up a final against top-                                                            in  the  world,  it’s  a  perfect  someone so important like
            ranked  Andy  Murray,  who                                                             matchup.”                    Novak  having  the  match
            had far less trouble winning                                                           But   Djokovic   acknowl-    so  close,”  Verdasco  said.
            his  semifinal  as  he  record-                                                        edged     that   Verdasco  “It’s hard to lose after how
            ed a seventh straight victo-                                                           could  rightly  have  been  well  I  played  and  how
            ry against Tomas Berdych.                                                              the  one  facing  Murray  on  close I was.”
            On  another  day  of  chilly                                                           Saturday.                    Verdasco  initially  trailed
            and  windy  weather  Fri-                                                              Of  the  five  match  points  4-2 in the first set, but then
            day,  Djokovic  prevailed                                                              Verdasco  held  from  6-2  in  broke  Djokovic  at  love
            4-6,  7-6  (7),  6-3  after  the                                                       the  second-set  tiebreaker,  in  the  seventh  and  ninth
            42nd-ranked     Verdasco,                                                              four  evaporated  on  the  games to take the set.
            a  crafty  left-hander  and                                                            Spaniard’s own mistakes.     Verdasco     last   played
            former top-10 player, con-                                                             “I  would  like  to  say  tough  Djokovic  in  the  second
            trolled the first two sets until   In this file photo dated Sunday, July 10, 2016, Andy Murray of   luck for Fernando,  round  of  last  year’s  Qatar
            the latter stages of the tie-  Britain holds the trophy after beating Milos Raonic of Canada in     he  was  clearly  the  better  Open, where his loss was his
                                         the men’s singles final at Wimbledon Tennis Championships in
            breaker.                     London. Murray is to receive an OBE for services to tennis and   player for the bigger part of  11th consecutive against a
            Murray  had  no  such  trou-  charity, in the Queen’s 2017 New Year honors.            the  match  and  he  should  world No. 1 player.
            ble  as  he  advanced  6-3,                                           Associated Press  have  won,”  Djokovic  said   Djokovic leads their head-
            6-4 against the third-seed-                                                            on court. “I don’t think I’ve  to-head 9-4.
            ed Czech.                    Novak to look forward to,”  meetings — including in the   saved  five  match  points  Murray,  meanwhile,  is  the
            Murray’s  winning  streak  is   Murray said on court. “This  final  of  last  year’s  season-  too many times.”     only  player  to  reach  four
            now  at  28  matches  and    has been the perfect week  ending ATP Finals — but the    The        second-seeded  finals  in  the  25-year  history
            the  British  player  had  10   to get ready for the Austra-  Serb holds a dominant 24-  Djokovic,  who  didn’t  lose  of the Qatar Open — losing
            aces  and  22  winners  in  a   lian Open.”               11  career  record  against   a set en route to the semi-  the 2007 final and winning
            convincing performance.      Murray has beaten Djokov-    Murray.                      finals,  broke  Verdasco’s  the next two years.q
            “It’s a great match against   ic in two of their last three  “We  have  always  very   serve  in  the  third  game  of
                  Raonic                                                                                                        winner over No. 4 Dominic


               Continued from Page 17                                                                                           Thiem — in the semifinals.
                                                                                                                                U.S.  Open  champion  Stan
            As  well  as  the  big,  deep                                                                                       Wawrinka  and  third-seed-
            service   returns,   Raonic                                                                                         ed Kei Nishikori will meet in
            also  repeatedly  went  to                                                                                          the other semifinal match.
            the net, trusting his instincts                                                                                     The        second-seeded
            and  putting  pressure  on                                                                                          Wawrinka  beat  unseeded
            Nadal.                                                                                                              Kyle  Edmund  6-7  (2),  6-4,
            “Today  the  mentality  be-                                                                                         6-4 to reach the semifinals
            hind  the  match  was  what                                                                                         in his first trip to the Brisbane
            sort  of  kept  me  around,”                                                                                        tournament.
            Raonic  said.  “Some  mo-                                                                                           In the previous three years,
            ments things weren’t look-                                                                                          Wawrinka  won  the  title  in
            ing great. I wasn’t efficient                                                                                       Chennai in the first week of
            coming forward. I was miss-                                                                                         the season before heading
            ing  some  shots  I  shouldn’t                                                                                      to Australia for the season’s
            be. I was rushing.                                                                                                  first major. Wawrkina has a
            “But  at  least  I  kept  myself                                                                                    4-3  lead  over  Nishikori  in
            there, and I was able to al-                                                                                        career  head-to-heads,  in-
            ways  recuperate  the  next                                                                                         cluding  the  semifinals  at
            point. That’s what I have to                                                                                        the  U.S.  Open  last  year,
            be most proud of.”                                                                                                  but  Nishikori  won  two  of
            Nadal,  coming  back  from                                                                                          the three meetings in 2016.
            a  layoff  after  an  injured                                                                                       Nishikori has now reached
            left wrist curtailed the end                                                                                        the semifinals four times in
            of  his  2016  season,  beat   Milos Raonic of Canada plays a shot in his quarterfinal match against Rafael Nadal of Spain at the   seven visits to the Brisbane
            Raonic  in  an  exhibition   Brisbane International tennis tournament in Brisbane, Australia, Friday, Jan. 6, 2017.   International,  needing  just
            tournament last week. But                                                                          Associated Press  an hour for a 6-1, 6-1 quar-
            Raonic  played  with  more                                                                                          terfinal win over Australian
            intensity  in  Brisbane,  and   we  will  be  here  one  hour  the  exhibition  tournament,  a  surprising  first-round  exit   wild-card   entry   Jordan
            Nadal  said  a  couple  of   before  with  a  victory,”  two wins and a close result  last year.                    Thompson.
            lapses were costly.          Nadal  said.  “That  passing  in  Brisbane  gave  him  con-  Still  in  contention  to  start   “I think I played one of the
            “Probably if I put that pass-  shot was long, and that’s it.  fidence  his  progress  was  back-to-back seasons with   best matches so far, really
            ing  shot  forehand  cross,  I   Then he had the break and  good ahead of the Austra-  a Brisbane title, Raonic will   dominating from the base-
            had  the  break  in  the  sec-  match changes.”           lian Open, where he is des-  play  seventh-seeded  Grig-  line  and  serving  good  to-
            ond  set,  big  chance  that   Nadal  said  three  wins  at  perate to make amends for  or Dimitrov — a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3   day,” Nishikori said. q
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