Djokovic denies Federer chance to win 100th title
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the missed opportunity proved costly when federer conjured up just a second break point of the contest at 6-5 converting in style as he gambled on djokovic going cross-court before batting a winner down the line to force a decider1 novak djokovic defeated roger federer in a thrilling semi-final at the paris masters on saturday to extend his winning run to 22 matches ahead of his return to world number one next week1 he will meet russias karen khachanov in sundays final as he looks to pull level with rafael nadal on 33 career masters titles1 djokovic who will replace an injury-plagued nadal at the top of the rankings on monday now leads federer 25-22 overall and has not lost to the swiss since 20151 novak is obviously on a roll. you can feel it. at the end it came down to a few things here and there said federer who returned to play in paris this week for the first time in three years1 but overall im happy with my game. its better than last week in basel. there i won the tournament and here i played in the semis and it needed somebody of novaks calibre to beat me1 so thats all right. and im looking forward to a rest now and a good preparation for london atp finals1 djokovic will go in search of a fifth paris trophy after denying federer a shot at a historic 100th title although the wimbledon and us open champion was pushed all the way by his 37-year-old rival1 djokovic watched four break points one of which federer saved with a magnificent reflex volley go by as he led 4-3 in the opening set before saving a set point on his serve in the tie-break1 a federer backhand drifted wide to hand djokovic the lead although two more break points passed the serb by in the first game of the second set with the swiss on the ropes1 the serb outlasted federer in just over three hours to prevail 7-6 86 5-7 7-6 731 federer fended off two more break points to open the third set as djokovic hit the deck when his ankle appeared to catch in the surface1 the serb threw his racket down in frustration as federer again escaped from 15-40 down to move 5-4 ahead but the 20-time grand slam champions magic fizzled out as the final set headed to a tie-break1 djokovic reeled off six successive points to bring up five match points clinching victory at the third attempt when federer picked out the net to end a tense concluding rally1 earlier the 22-year-old khachanov advanced to his first masters final after beating austrian sixth seed dominic thiem 6-4 6-11 im really happy to achieve this to make it to the finals. but the tournament is not over. i mean im looking forward to play finals tomorrow said the 18th-ranked khachanov1 going into the paris masters khachanov had won just three of his 19 matches against players in the top 10 but it took him just 71 minutes to add the scalp of world number eight thiem to those of john isner 9 and alexander zverev 5 whom he beat earlier in the week1 the 1.98m khachanov dominated from the baseline and attacked the thiem service breaking the austrian in his final five service games of the match1 the russian number two now has 15 match wins at this level this year including a trip to the semi-finals of the rogers cup in toronto1 khachanov has also won two atp world tour titles in 2018 with triumphs in marseille and at the kremlin cup1 i am very happy with the way i have been playing said the russian who is assured of climbing at least to 12th in the atp rankings when they are published on monday1