Novak Djokovic will keep his status as world No.1 after he advanced to the Paris Masters final, while top-spot rival rival Rafael Nadal was forced to withdraw with an injury.
Djokovic entered his 50th Masters level final after a 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 victory over Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrovon at Bercy on Saturday.
“I’m motivated. I want to do well tomorrow,” said the 16-times grand slam winner.
“I hope to find my best tennis.”
He will now play Canadian Denis Shapovalov after Nadal reportedly sustained the injury in his warm-up for his semi-final.
The Spaniard was only 320 ranking points behind Djokovic and set to take top spot on Monday, but the battle to be world No.1 at year’s end will continue at the season’s curtain closing ATP Finals in London on November 10.
Nadal has never won the Paris title because his time at the tournament has been historically plagued with injury.
He has previous had to pull out seven times and retire from matches twice.
Speaking at a news conference before his third round win over Stan Wawrinka, he said he was “scared” of picking up a problem at the tournament again.
“It is always historically I have issues at the end of the season,” Nadal added.
“I am always a little bit scared because this tournament I had plenty of things during all my career.”
In the first set tie-break, Djokovic double-faulted to give Dimitrov a 5-3 advantage, but the 32-year-old Serb rallied off four straight points to take the set.
“He was probably the better player in the tie-break,” said Djokovic.
“I managed to get returns into play and just make him play an extra shot. We both really understood the importance of clinching the first set.”
Dimitrov, who is ranked 27th in the world, mishit a return and conceded a break at 2-2 in the second set before Djokovic extended the gap to 4-2 behind his serve.
Djokovic served for the match at 5-4 and completed it in one hour and 38 minutes to claim his place in a 50th Masters final, where he will aim for a fifth Paris title.
He will now play Shapovalov, who has not beaten him in three previous meetings.
“He has played some impressive tennis, yesterday especially against Monfils,” said Djokovic, speaking about Shapovalov’s 6-2, 6-2 quarter-final win.
“I’m looking forward to the final. Hopefully I will be able to get the best out of myself tomorrow.”
