TORONTO: Novak Djokovic said he needed some luck to escape on Friday with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 victory over Tomas Berdych for a place in the semi-finals of the ATP Toronto Masters.
The top seed with three Canadian titles was tested in a 71-minute opening set but survived before motoring to victory over a top 10 rival he has now beaten in 25 of 27 meetings.
Djokovic needed two hours to reach the final four, winning his 12th straight match against Berdych. The Czech has now lost 17 straight matches against top five opponents.
But it was not all one-way traffic for Djokovic, who struggled to close out a testing tiebreaker.
Berdych showed his desire by winning five consecutive points from 1-3 down in the first-set decider, only to miss on three set points as he finally handed over the set to his opponent.
Djokovic earned a second-set break for 2-1 and rode the margin to his eventual victory in a match which was well below his best level.
“I don’t know how I got out of that tiebreak,” Djokovic said. “I guess I was just able to focus on the next point.
“Tomas had a double-fault (on set point) and some errors. I was very fortunate to win that first set.
“I really had some relief going into the second.”
Djokovic will line up Saturday night against on-form Frenchman Gael Monfils, who dominated Canadian fourth-seeded and home favourite Milos Raonic 6-4, 6-4 in 72 minutes.
