Novak Djokovic beat Taylor Fritz 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (8-6); he will face third seed Casper Ruud in Sunday's final after the Norwegian overcame Andrey Rublev 6-2 6-4; the 35-year-old Serb is trying to win his first ATP Finals title since 2015 and match Roger Federer's record haul of six
Saturday 19 November 2022 21:54, UK
Novak Djokovic kept his bid for a record-equalling sixth ATP Finals title alive by beating Taylor Fritz in straight sets to reach Sunday's final in Turin, where he will face Norwegian Casper Ruud.
Djokovic, who went unbeaten through the group stage of the tour's season-ending tournament, won 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (8-6) in just under two hours.
In the final, the 35-year-old will take on third seed Casper Ruud, who had a slightly more comfortable time of things in beating Andrey Rublev 6-2 6-4 to reach his first final on his second appearance at the ATP Finals.
Djokovic is trying to win his first ATP Finals title since 2015 and match Roger Federer's record haul.
The Serb had to recover quickly from a gruelling three-hour win over Daniil Medvedev in his final group match, which had ended less than 24 hours previously.
A spirited showing from Fritz saw him recover from a break down in the first set. The American also broke in the opening game of the second and he appeared to be on the verge of levelling the match when he surged into a 5-3 lead.
But Djokovic broke back and again found a way to pull through the tiebreaker, winning the match on his second match point. He has now won all six of his encounters against the 25-year-old Fritz.
As well as possibly matching Federer's record, Djokovic also stands to claim the largest payday in tennis history on Sunday, with $4,740,300 on offer for claiming the ATP Finals trophy undefeated.
"I had to fight to survive," Djokovic said after clinching his spot in the final.
"Coming into today's match from yesterday's gruelling battle against Medvedev, I knew it would take me some time to adjust and find the dynamic movement I need against Fritz, who is one of the best servers on the Tour.
"I am very pleased to have overcome this one as I don't think it was one of my best days with my tennis, but I managed to hang in there."
In the doubles, Joe Salisbury again got the better of his Davis Cup team-mate Neal Skupski as he and American Rajeev Ram reached the final for the second successive year.
Salisbury and Ram defeated Skupski and Dutchman Wesley Koolhof in the US Open final earlier this year and repeated the feat with a 7-6 (9-7) 6-4 victory over the top seeds on Saturday.
Salisbury, who is aiming to become the first British player to win the doubles title at the prestigious event, said: "We are very happy to be through. I feel we are pretty good at handling whatever, any situation we are in."
Salisbury and Ram were beaten by French duo Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert 12 months ago.
To go one better, they will need to beat Croatian duo Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, who ended the hopes of a third English player, Lloyd Glasspool, on Saturday.
Glasspool and Finn Harri Heliovaara pushed their rivals all the way but went down in the decisive tie-break, losing 6-4 6-7 (4-7) (10-6).
