London: Andy Murray and Milos Raonic will resume their London rivalry when they play in the semi-finals of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, here on Saturday. Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic will play Kei Nishikori in the other semi-finals.
Djokovic could regain his top spot today if he could beat Nishikori and Murray loses to Milos Raonic. It can also happen tomorrow, if Djokovic were to beat the Japanese today and then tomorrow defeat Murray. Djokovic (11,380 points ) must finish a round ahead of Murray (11,510 points) in order to overtake the Briton, who is trying to become the 17th player in the history of the Emirates ATP Rankings (since 1973) to finish No. 1. Djokovic is attempting to finish No. 1 for the third straight year and fifth time in six years.
In the first singles match, Murray enters with an 8-3 FedEx ATP Head 2 Head record against Raonic, who has lost the past seven meetings against the Briton, including five this season. They last met in the semi-finals at ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati on Aug. 20 with Murray winning 6-3 6-.
Meanwhile, Djokovic has a 10-2 FedEx ATP Head 2 Head record against Nishikori, who has lost the past nine meetings, including five this season. Their last meeting came in the final of ATP Masters 1000 Toronto on July 31 with the Serb winning 6-3 7-5.
Murray-Soares, Bryan Brothers lead doubles’ semis
The doubles semi-finals feature three first-time teams along with four-time champions, No. 3 seeds Bob and Mike Bryan. The first-time duos are No. 2 Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, No. 5 Henri Kontinen and John Peers and No. 7 Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram.
Courtesy: www.atpworldtour.com