By Alexia Krause
PARIS, France (TheSportsNEXT) November 4, 2012: David Ferrer of Spain defeated -wild card entry Michael Llorda in straight sets by 7-5 6-3 on Saturday to cruise into final of the BNP Paribas Masters (Paris Masters) in Paris-Bercy.
David Ferrer, who has already qualified for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals which starts on November 5 at O2 Arena in London, looked in sublime form in the last-four match as he kept his nerves in the opening set to break his opponent only when it mattered the most and steal the first set by 7-5.
The fourth seeded Spaniard further cemented his rule over the proceedings in the second set and won it by 6-3 to complete his victory in an hour and 50 minutes.
During the course of his 71st victory of the season, which is the most by any player this season with world number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia following him with 70 wins, David Ferrer saved 10 of the 11 break points he faced.
This was also David Ferrer’s third straight victory over Michael Llorda in as many matches and the world number five was ecstatic about the way he played his game on Saturday.
Talking to reporters, David Ferrer said, “I feel good. I am very happy because I am in the final. Tomorrow, it's going to be a very difficult match because my opponent, he's playing very, very good. But I will try to do my best for to beat him.”
When asked about his feelings about his career-best season, Ferrer stated, “Of course this year was the best of my career. I never won six titles in one year. If I win tomorrow, it's going to be seven. I'm very happy for that. I won a lot of matches.”
David Ferrer has qualified into his fourth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final but is yet to win one and is the only player who has recorded the most victories – 123 wins - without an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown.
David Ferrer previously made into the final of ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final but lost on all of the three occasions at Rome in 2010 and at Monte Carlo and Shanghai in 2011 season.
The 30-year-old Spaniard is also nearing a world record as if he wins the Paris Masters title then this would be his seventh title this year and by doing so he will break record of Roger Federer who won six titles to set the record of posting most tour-level trophies in a season.
On the other hand, Jerzy Janowicz, who entered the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris as a wild card entry has defeated some of the top players and entered the Paris Masters final with an impressive victory over Gilles Simon of France by 6-4 7-5.
Gilles Simon became the fifth player ranked inside the Top 20 of the ATP Rankings to fall to Jerzy Janowicz this week.
The high-flying Janowicz told reporters, “When I had match point today, I felt a little bit strange. I had chicken skin. I was a little bit nervous during this match point, but this was really an unbelievable feeling. I just said to myself before this match point to not change anything, just to play the same game as I played before. I did this. I finished the match with a dropshot.”
Jerzy Janowicz, ranked 69th in the ATP Rankings, needed 89 minutes to seal the deal and hit as many as 12 aces during the course of the match and never faced a break point.
The giant-eater Jerzy Janowicz also became the first player since 2000 to enter final of his ATP World Tour Masters 1000 on debut. Harel Levy was the last man to achieve the feat when he finished runner-up to Marat Safin at Toronto.
Gilles Simon had glowing tributes for Janowicz when he told reporters, “There was no surprise about this. I played a player who's totally confident right now. He is playing and having fun while he's playing. He's hitting as hard as he can each time. This is what I saw from his game on the previous matches, and I was not surprised with how he played against me today. He is very difficult to return. Normally I'm supposed to be one of the best returners on the tour, and I was not able to do that today.”
Martin Klizan of Slovakia is the only man who won the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title on debut and if Jerzy Janowicz hunts his sixth top player in a week then he would join the ranks of the Slovakian player. The title victory would also make Janowicz only the first players in 30 years to win an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title for Poland as Wojtek Fibak was the last man to do the job for his country at the WCT/Chicago in 1982.
Janowicz said, “I was always a confident guy, but I was dreaming about top 100. I broke top 100 this year. But I could never expect something like this. I came here to play qualifications, and suddenly I'm in the final.”
The victory in the final is also very important for David Ferrer as he would be looking to enter the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals with a title on his back.
