Novak Djokovic beats Andy Murray to win Paris Masters title

Novak Djokovic will meet Andy Murray in the BNP Paribas Paris Masters final on Sunday after the Serb exacted a measure of revenge on Stanislas Wawrinka in the French capital.

Murray will guarantee finishing the year second in the ATP world rankings for the first time if he wins the title.

Murray appeared to be in trouble again early in the second set as the world number one tried to quickly wrap it up, but Murray saved a break point.

Ferrer, who won the 2012 tournament in Paris, looked set for a straight sets canter against John Isner as he led 6-3, 5-3, 40-15.

Djokovic breezed through the opening set, breaking decisively in the sixth game. It was far from Djokovic’s most commanding performance of late as he struggled with his serve, but he has yet to drop a set since the US Open final against Federer in early September. Murray had 9 service games, and had problems in 7 of them.

In the doubles final, Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock of the United States were defeated 2-6, 6-3, 10-5 by second seeds Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Marcelo Melo of Brazil.

The fourth-seeded Wawrinka ended Djokovic’s 29-set winning streak to level the match, but totally crumbled in the decider, dropping his serve three times. “I dictated a lot of the points and I finished a lot of points up at the net and was able to shorten enough points to not make it too tiring”.

Both men were forced to save one break chance on serve with Djokovic coming up large on his save that was a set point for Berdych in the 12th game.

“There is no reason for me to decrease the pace of the training and preparations”, the 10-time Grand Slam champion said. “I try to work on that all the time, because I know that is the only way I’m managing to stay successful”, said the 28-year-old Djokovic after playing in his 14th straight tournament final this year. “I think that was strengthened even more after the Roland Garros final”.

Second seed Murray sealed his place in the final by seeing off David Ferrer 6-4 6-3 in the first semi-final.

Ferrer fought back, returning Isner’s second serve into his feet for 5-5, then saving a set point with a forehand victor for 6-6.

But Isner unleashed a booming backhand victor down the line for 7-6, then sent down another huge serve which just clipped Ferrer’s racket to clinch the set, turning to clench his fist at a small group of fans just behind him.

Murray had never previously gone beyond the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters, but his 6-4 6-3 victory over David Ferrer took him into a final showdown with Novak Djokovic.