Djokovic to face Raonic for Paris Masters title

Novak Djokovic

Paris, Nov 2 (IANS)

Top-rated Asian player Kei Nishikori lost to World No.1 Novak Djokovic in the semi-final of the Paris Masters, while Canadian sensation Milos Raonic continued his stunning run by booking his place in the final against the Serb.

Nishikori, who rose to a career high No.6 to become the highest ranked Asian male of all time less than a month ago, was broken in as early as his second serve by Djokovic before losing 2-6, 3-6 Saturday night, reports Xinhua.

"I was a little bit tired," said the 24-year-old.

"My body wasn't 100 percent ready for the match since I had three tough matches before the semi-final," he said. "But still, it's really tough to play against him. He doesn't miss, and at the same time, he's very consistent from the baseline."

"It was obvious that Kei was fatigued, maybe because he finished late last night, or has a little injury. He didn't serve as well as he can," commented Djokovic.

"Other than that, I think he played very well from back of the court," said the defending champion.

"But I served exceptionally well when it was important, and that allowed me to have a lot of free points and to put more pressure on his service games."

Earlier Saturday, Canada's 23-year-old Raonic reached his second Masters final by upsetting another big name Tomas Berdych just a day after stunning World No. 2 Roger Federer in Friday's quarterfinals.

The tenth-ranked Canadian picked up a break in the final game to edge the Czech 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in two hours eight minutes and set up a final encounter with the top-ranked Serbian.

With 12 aces against Berdych, Raonic now leads the total standings of aces in this tournament on 75, 33 aces over the second-placed South African Kevin Anderson.

Both Nishikori and Raonic have already secured berths to the ATP Finals slated Nov 9-16 in London, marking the season finale with an Asian and a Canadian for the first time in history.

In the doubles play, No.1 seeds Bob and Mike Bryan of the US booked a final clash with the unseeded pair Marcin Matkowski of Poland and Austrian Jurgen Melzer.