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Federer, Djokovic to fight for title at ATP World Tour Finals
London: Six-time champion Roger Federer will vie for the title against world number one Novak Djokovic at the ATP World Tour Finals after beating fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka in the semifinals here .
The 34-year-old fought back from 2-4 down in the first set to win 7-5, 6-3 at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday, reaching the final in the season-ending tournament for the 10th time, Xinhua reported.
Djokovic, bidding for a fourth successive title, earlier eased past Spaniard Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-3.
Federer and Djokovic will meet in the final for the third time following their 2012 and 2014 clash, where the Serb won on both occasions.
“It will be the perfect end to the season – if I win,” said Federer.
“But otherwise I’ve still had a good tournament,” he said.
“Novak has had a tremendous year and this match will be really difficult. This is the last match of the season. I’ll give it all I have and leave it on the court,” he added.
Djokvic levelled his record against Nadal at 23-23 in career meetings and took his eighth win in their last nine matches.
He said afte the match: “I played my best game when it mattered the most and got to the final.”
Nadal, who spent two and three-quarter hours winning a meaningless group match over David Ferrer less than 24 hours ago, was totally outplayed.
“He was better than me and he deserved to do what he did during the whole season,” said Nadal. “He played just fantastic.”
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.