Ruthless Djokovic routs Goffin in Tour Finals    

London: Novak Djokovic crushed David Goffin 6-1 6-2 at the ATP Tour Finals as the world number two kept his foot on the gas in the race to finish the year atop the world rankings.

Djokovic had already qualified for the semi-finals as group winner, but the Serb was keen to keep the momentum going in his bid to overhaul world number one Andy Murray and he took just 69 minutes to demolish Goffin at London's O2 Arena yesterday.

Joining Djokovic in the last four is Milos Raonic, who defeated Dominic Thiem 7-6 (7/5) 6-3 to become the first Canadian to reach the semi-finals of the Tour Finals.

Djokovic has been in a prolonged slump since winning the French Open for the first time in June, sparking rumours about his private life and questions about his recent involvement with a 'spiritual guru' as he lost the top ranking to Murray.

But the decline is all relative as the 29-year-old has now won 21 of his last 22 matches at the Tour Finals, keeping him on course to win the tournament for a fifth successive year and record-equalling sixth time in total.

It is also the fourth time in the last five years that Djokovic has won all three of his group matches at the Tour Finals.

Djokovic is now 70 points ahead of Murray in the ATP's 'as it stands' rankings, although he already knew winning the tournament would give him the year-end pole position whatever happened against Goffin.

"I'm very glad my game is going in the right direction.

Today I felt the most comfortable so far in the tournament," Djokovic said.

"I felt like I increased the quality of tennis compared to the other matches.

"I'm looking forward to the semi-finals on Saturday." - Punch bag -

Murray faces Stan Wawrinka in his last group match today knowing a victory would guarantee he qualifies as group winner, thus avoiding a clash with Djokovic before the final.

PTI