Djokovic moves into Tour Finals SFs
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}World No. 1 Serbian star Novak Djokovic booked a spot in Sunday's semifinals at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals.
The 2008 champion went 3-0 in his round-robin matches in London after handling fifth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 6-2, 7-6 (8-6) at The O2 Arena.
Djokovic prevailed in 1 hour, 37 minutes with the help of seven aces and was broken only once on Day 5, as the former Wimbledon runner-up Berdych fell to 1-2 for the week. Djokovic saved three set points in the second stanza.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It was quite a close set," Berdych said. "I had some chances in the tiebreak. It wasn't one of my best matches with him."
The two-time year-end No. 1 Djokovic has now won his last nine matches against Berdych and is 11-1 lifetime against the powerful Czech.
Friday's other round-robin match will pit third-seeded Andy Murray (1-1) against seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (0-2), who was last year's Tour Finals runner-up to the great Roger Federer.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Round-robin play will wrap up on Saturday when the second-seeded former No. 1 and reigning Wimbledon champion Federer (2-0) takes on sixth seed Juan Martin del Potro (1-1) and fourth-seeded David Ferrer (1-1) battles eighth seed Janko Tipsarevic (0-2). Ferrer was last week's titlist at the Paris Masters. Del Potro was the Tour Finals runner-up in London in 2009 and upset Federer in a final last month in Basel -- Federer's hometown.
The 31-year-old 17-time Grand Slam champion Federer is a record six-time Tour Finals champ, including wins in the last two finals in the prestigious eight- player event.
This week's four-player Group A features the group winner and Australian Open champion Djokovic, the U.S. Open and Olympic titlist Murray, Berdych and Tsonga, while Group B boasts Federer, Ferrer, del Potro and Tipsarevic. The top-two players from each group will play in the semifinals on Sunday, and the winners will square off in the lucrative finale Monday in London.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The 2012 World Tour Finals champion can earn as much as $1.76 million.