Novak Djokovic beats Milos Raonic 7-6 7-6 to reach semi-finals of ATP World Tour Finals and stay on course to win back No 1 ranking

NOVAK DJOKOVIC is through to the semi finals at the O2 with a match to spare and not a tantrum in sight.
But Djokovic was pushed hard by Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic and had to win two tense tiebreaks after an otherwise more convincing performance threatened to fall away.

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And the Serb’s wobbles on serve and off the ground in the second set suggest he remains vulnerable to someone able to play the big points better than Raonic did.

The big Canadian had his chances in the opening set and held a set point in the second after twice battling back from a break behind.

Djokovic’s 7-6 7-6 victory was enough, though, to guarantee that he would top the John McEnroe Group regardless of the results in the final pair of round-robin matches on Thursday.

Raonic will feel he let slip a big opportunity to notch his first victory over the former world No 1 at the eighth attempt.

Djokovic did well to save three break points in his first two service games, but the Canadian was the more convincing player throughout the first set.

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Raonic led 3-1 in the tiebreak, only to fall 4-3 behind. A successful challenge helped him back to 6-6 but then he missed a routine forehand on Djokovic second serve and then double faulted to give up the set.

Raonic then lost his serve tamely at the very start of the second set and the writing was on the wall.

Or was it? The world No 4 kept going for his forehands and broke back – only to drop his serve again straightaway.

Full credit to him, though, he broke back again to make it 4-4 and as Djokovic started making uncharacteristic errors, he had a set point at 5-6 30-40 in his opponent’s serve.

But Djokovic held his nerve and came from behind again in the second tiebreak, winning it when Raonic went wide with a backhand.

So the Serb remains on course for a sixth Barclays ATP World Tour Finals title – and to regain the No 1 ranking from Andy Murray.