Novak Djokovic topples Roman Safiullin 6-1 7-6(3) in the semifinal in Tel Aviv on Saturday. Djokovic will face off with Marin Cilic in the final. The match lasted 1 hour and 34 minutes.
Novak added to his prize money $ 34,710 after winning this match. He has won already $ 84,245 after this win. If he wins the next match, the Serbian will add $ 60,170 to his earnings to get in total $ 144,415 in total.
Highlights Novak Djokovic vs. Roman Safiullin Tel Aviv Watergen Open – Tel Aviv
Stats: aces, double faults, breaks, winners
1h:34
At the end of the match, Djokovic scored 74 points vs. Safiullin’s 52.
Djokovic
Djokovic served very well to win 84% of the points (36/43) behind his first serve. Notwithstanding he won only 43% points (9/21) on his second serve. Djokovic won this match even if he was struggling to find the solution in converting his break points as he converted only 43% (3/7) of the procured opportunities.
Safiullin
On the other side, Safiullin had some problems converting his break points (only 33% – 1/3). That was one of the key issues for his loss.
After this contest, the head to head between Djokovic and Safiullin is 1-0 for Novak.
Draw and next match H2H: Novak Djokovic vs. Marin Cilic – stats
Djokovic will square off with Cilic in the final.
This will be the 21st time that Novak Djokovic and Marin Cilic fight against each other. The head to head is 18-2 for Djokovic (see full H2H stats), 5-1 on I.hard.
The last time that they played, Djokovic won 7-67 6-2 in the R in London Finals back in 2018.
Live score progression and stats
Djokovic enjoyed quite a good start of the set after breaking Roman Safiullin in the 2nd game (2-0) before consolidating his break and lead 5-0. Novak improved his lead after breaking Roman in the 4th (4-0) game before winning the set (6-1).
An important stage of this set was when the Serbian won 5 consecutive games in the 1st set to change the scoreline from 0-0 to 5-0.
The Serbian converted 33% of his break points (2/6). He had 6 break points opportunities in the 2nd (1-0 0-40) and the 4th game (3-0 0-40, 15-40, 30-40, 40-A and 40-A). On the other side, the Serbian didn’t concede a single break point during this set.
They played 39 points. Djokovic won 17 more points than Roman (28-11). Novak was extremely solid on serve to drop just 3 points (16-3). Regarding the other side of the net, the Russian conceded 12 points on serve (8-12).
Djokovic won the set after he broke the Russian in the 9th (5-4) game. Roman tried to stage a comeback breaking in the 10th (5-5) game. However, Novak managed to stay calm and finish the job to ultimately clinch the set at the following tiebreak at 3.
The Serbian failed to serve out the set when leading 5-4 to be broken at 30.
Tiebreak
Novak won 5 minibreaks in the 1st (1-0), 4th (3-1), 5th (4-1), 8th (6-2) and 10th (7-3) point. On the other side, Safiullin won 2 minibreaks in the 2nd (1-1) and 6th (2-4) point.
The Serbian won the tiebreak 7-3 after he conquered a decisive 4-2 lead.
This was the tiebreak sequence: 1-0, 1-1, 2-1, 3-1, 4-1, 4-2, 5-2, 6-2, 6-3, 7-3
The Serbian was clinical in converting the only break point that he conquered in the 9th game (4-4 40-A). On the other side, the Russian converted 33% of his break points (1/3). He had his opportunities in the 6th (3-2 40-A and 40-A) and the 10th game (4-5 30-40).
They contested 87 points. The set was a huge battle since finally the Serbian won just 3 more points than Safiullin (45-42). The Serbian lost 16 points on serve (28-16). Regarding the other side of the net, Safiullin conceded 17 points on serve (26-17).
Tennis Scores in Tel Aviv
- Novak DjokovicDjokovic – Roman SafiullinSafiullin (6-1 7-63) – Stats and score progression
- Marin CilicCilic – Constant LestienneLestienne (7-5 6-3) – Stats and score progression
Upcoming matches
- Novak DjokovicDjokovic – Marin CilicCilic (18-2) – H2H details and stats
