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11/22/11 1:32 AM | Kelli DeMario
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic survived a difficult opener at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, having rallied to dismiss world No. 7 Tomas Berdych late Monday. The top seed won the match in three sets.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic recorded his 70th victory of the season with his three-set success against world No. 5 Tomas Berdych. The 24-year-old saved a match point en route to a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) win in two hours and 39 minutes.
After trailing 4-2 in the final set, Djokovic broke to 3-4 as Berdych erred on the forehand wing. The Czech had a chance to close in the 12th game but was unable to convert match point. Djokovic regrouped quickly to build a 4-1 lead in the tiebreak.
Triple match point came at 6-3 for the top seed, who ended the match on an unreturned serve.
"It was the toughest match probably since the US Open," Djokovic said. "I mean, I wasn't very satisfied with my performance tonight. I know I wasn't playing on top of my game. But a win is a win in the end.
"I knew that my opponent tonight is an unpredictable player, who has powerful groundstrokes and a great serve. If he's on, if he feels the ball well, it's difficult to compete with him. That's what happened. I think he made pressure, a lot of pressure, on my serve, especially the second serve. He was stepping in. I went back. I was too passive."
"I'm feeling really disappointed," said Berdych. "I had a match point, I had a break up in the third set, and I did something on the match point which I couldn't change now. Probably I would try to do the same if I would have a match point again. Maybe I was too risky. But that's how I play. That was my chance to end up the match.
"I don't know what I can take positive from this game. I mean, probably could be something. But the first thing is definitely going to be start to forget it as quickly as possible as I can and be ready for Wednesday."
Djokovic completed the night with 17 winners and three of eight break points converted. He is slated to face David Ferrer Wednesday night.
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