Paris: Novak Djokovic made sure he would reach the world number one at the end of the year for the seventh record time when he secured his place in the Paris Masters final on Saturday with 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (5) a victory against Hubert Hurkacz Poland.
The top seed Serbia overcomes the initial faltering in Bercy Arena against opponents who booked the last ticket for the final ATP final on Friday before competing through the second and handle its nerves in third place.
Gunning for the sixth title here, Djokovic will face Daniil Medvedev and Germany Alexander Zverev in the week’s battle.
Djokovic, who needs to win the Final Paris to avoid failure to claim the Masters title in one season for the first time since 2017, dropped service in the eighth match and Hurkacz followed up to close the opening set.
It pushed Djokovic into the action and number one world allowing only 11 points in the second set.
Hurkacz regained his peace in Decider, but Djokovic was the notch above and he went bankrupt for 3-1 with the winner of the forehand at the end of a long rally.
He followed with the service game to love but Hurkacz fought back to retreat for 3-4 when he hammed forehand winners in the line.
Djokovic wasted the point of the match on 5-4 and the tie entered a decider, which was dominated by Hurkacz until he buried the forehand regularly to the net to put Djokovic 6-5 with another match point.
The pole cut backhand width, allowing Djokovic to move in one victory from the title of Masters 37.
Both he and Rafael Nadal tied with 36 respective titles.