PARIS — Top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic will take on second seed Andy Murray in Sunday's Paris Masters final. In Saturday's semis, Djokovic defeated Stan Wawrinka 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, while Murray edged past David Ferrer 6-4, 6-3.
Paris is the last of the nine Masters 1000 series for the season with Djokovic having already won five and Murray two. The win over Wawrinka was sweet revenge for world No. 1 Djokovic who lost the French Open final to the Swiss star on the other side of Paris in June.
That prevented the 28-year-old Serb from completing his career haul of Grand Slam titles. As he subsequently won the Wimbledon and US Open titles, having already wrapped up the Australian Open, it also stopped him from becoming just the third man, after Don Budge and Rod Laver, to win all four Grand Slam titles in the same year.
A break in the third game was enough for Djokovic to take the first set and, when he broke to lead 2-0 in the second, it looked like a straightforward win against a player who had finished his punishing quarter-final match against Rafael Nadal well after midnight.
But Wawrinka summoned up his last energies to run off five games in a row and the level the set scores. A love service game for Djokovic to start the third set, however, reversed the momentum and Wawrinka visibly wilted allowing the Serb to power into the final for the third straight year.
Earlier, Murray blew hot and cold in a roller-coaster of a match, but in the end he had too much firepower for the veteran Spaniard, a winner in Paris in 2012.
"There were periods of the match that were a little bit physical, but I did feel like I dictated a lot of the points and I finished a lot of points up at the net and was able to shorten enough points to not make it too tiring," said Murray, who had some back pain after his tough quarterfinal win over Richard Gasquet.
"So, you know, I feel pretty good. My legs feel fine." Djokovic defeated Tomas Berdych 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (10-8) to reach the semifinals. Ferrer made it through to the last four but Nadal crashed out to Wawrinka.
Wawrinka sent Nadal packing 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (9-7), the Swiss having defeated him the last time the two men met in Paris in the French Open final in June.
Ferrer, who won the 2012 tournament in Paris, looked set for a straight sets canter against John Isner as he led 6-3, 5-3, 40-15. But the big-serving American suddenly found some form with his returns to break back and then draw level at 5-5.
Isner jumped out into a 5-2 lead in the tie-break before Ferrer pulled back, but it was the American who leveled the set scores against all the odds.
The effort though took its toll on Isner who dropped serve early on in the decider and then needed lengthy courtside treatment for stomach pain.
Ferrer had his second chance to put away the tie and this time he made no mistake winning 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-2.
