Djokovic faces Shapovalov in final after Nadal pulls out; Svitolina advances

Rafael Nadal pulled out of the Paris Masters through injury just minutes before the scheduled start of his semi-final against Denis Shapovalov on Saturday, leaving the Canadian to play Novak Djokovic in the final.

Second seed Nadal could have secured the year-end world number one ranking by winning the Bercy title this week.

Djokovic had beaten Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in the first semi-final, but with an expectant crowd waiting in their seats for the second last-four match, it was announced that Nadal was out of the tournament.

The 19-time Grand Slam champion will take over from Djokovic at the top of the world rankings next week, despite missing out on the chance to win a maiden title at Bercy. Four-time champion Djokovic came through a dramatic first-set tie-break before prevailing 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to move to the brink of a record-extending fifth Bercy title. It will be the 50th Masters final of Djokovic’s career and his sixth in Paris, having lost to Russian Karen Khachanov in last year’s championship match.

“The first set, he played better,” said Djokovic. “It was played at a really high level. The atmosphere was incredible, especially in the tie-break.”

The 16-time Grand Slam champion is bidding for his fifth title of the season ahead of the ATP Tour Finals in London, which start on Nov.10, where he will be hoping to equal Pete Sampras’ record of finishing six years as the world number one.

Meanwhile, World number one Ashleigh Barty overcame the hitting power of Karolina Pliskova with a comeback victory on Saturday to set up a mouth-watering WTA Finals decider against defending champion Elina Svitolina.

The French Open champion prevailed 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 53 minutes in a matchup of the top two ranked players in the world.

Barty, playing in her WTA Finals debut, will look to cap off a momentous season when she plays Svitolina in Sunday’s final.

Ukraine’s Svitolina won her 10th straight WTA Finals match with a 5-7, 6-3, 4-1 victory over a hobbled Belinda Bencic in one hour and 50 minutes.

The Swiss struggled with cramping from late in the first set but gamely fought on before retiring hurt.

Barty hoped to end the curse on her against Svitolina, having lost all five previous meetings.

“It’s a match I can come out here and enjoy,” she said. “I have nothing to lose and I will try to end my regular season really well.”

Agence France-Presse