PARIS: Novak Djokovic rallied from a set down Thursday to beat fellow Serb Viktor Troicki 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 and reach the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters. Andy Murray of Britain, Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic and David Ferrer of Spain also advanced.
The top-ranked Djokovic looked a pale shadow of the player who dominated the first half of the season, making 44 unforced errors compared to 28 winners.
Djokovic dropped serve twice to lose the first set. He then broke for a 4-2 lead in the second, and leveled the match when Tipsarevic sent a bakchand wide. The Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion then raced to a 4-0 lead in the final set.
Murray routed Andy Roddick of the United States 6-2, 6-2 and will next face Berdych, who beat Janko Tipsarevic 7-5, 6-4.
The second-seeded British player improved his record to 17-0 since the U.S. Open and has now won 27 of his last 28 matches since mid-August.
Murray outclassed Roddick, hitting 27 winners compared to only four for the American. Roddick will finish the season outside the top 10 for the first time since 2001.The fifth-seeded Berdych trailed 5-1 in the first set and 4-1 in the second, but fought back both times to clinch his spot at the ATP World Tour Finals. His victory meant Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Mardy Fish also secured spots at the season-ending tournament in London, with Tipsarevic missing out.
Bopanna-Qureshi in qrtrs
India’s Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi today notched up a straight-set victory over Britain’s Colin Fleming and Jamie Murray to reach the quarterfinals of the ATP Paris Masters here.
The Indo-Pak pair beat Fleming and Murray 6-4 6-3 in the prequarters. Bopanna-Qureshi, who got a bye in the opening round, will next face the winners of the match between Michael Llodra-N Zimonic and Eric Butorac-Julien Jean. (Agencies)