London : Novak Djokovic strengthened his chances of qualifying for the semifinals of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena here yesterday with a 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Spain's Rafael Nadal.
However, he can only qualify provided Group B leader Robin Soderling does him a favour by beating Nikolay Davydenko in the final round robin match of the night.
Earlier Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram assured themselves of a place in the doubles semifinals against Mark Knowles and Mahesh Bhupathi today with a thumping 7-6, 6-4 win over fourth seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy yesterday.
With nothing much to play for, except the money, Paes and Dlouhy looked more relaxed and easy on court. And this sort of helped them as they tended to dominate their opponents even after being a break down in the first set.
But Mirnyi and Ram saw the Indo-Czech pair fight back with a break of their own to force a tie-breaker that the Belarussian and Israeli won easily 7-1. The second set was wrapped up in good time with an early break as Mirnyi and Ram whizzed through 6-4.
"It was tough, very tough and very emotional match for us," admitted Ram.
"It wasn't about tennis today, but it was about controlling our emotions and I think we did well," he added after going through an hour and a quarter.
Paes and Dlouhy, who have vouched to continue their partnership for the next season, were pleased with their showing despite ending up as the losers. "I think today was one of our better matches compared to the other two we played, and the scoreline showed it," Paes stated.
The second pair from Group B was to be decided later in the night after the meeting between the Bryan twins and Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach. Only a win in straight sets will see the Bryan through.
