THE world’s top two male tennis players will compete in the ATP Cup semi-finals after both Novak Djokovic’s Serbia and Rafael Nadal‘s Spain emerged victorious on Day 8 of the ATP Cup. Serbia and Spain join Russia and Australia in the semi-finals – as predicted by Draft Central‘s tournament preview – though the two semi-finals winners from today start favourites.

In the earlier quarter finals clash, Serbia showed no signs of slowing down with a clean sweep of Canada. The Davis Cup finalists came agonisingly close to making it through to the final four in the same formatted tournament, but a dominant performance from Dusan Lajovic and a come-from-behind victory by Djokovic meant the Serbians headed into the third rubber with the match in the bag. Lajovic took an hour and 40 minutes to see off Felix Auger-Aliassime in an upset, to claim the win 6-4 6-2, serving at an impressive 76 per cent, claiming points from 74 per cent of his first serves. Auger-Aliassime used his powerful serve to advantage to slam down 10 aces, but also coughed up give double faults and struggled as a whole, winning just two thirds of his first serve points. Struggling even more on his second serve – winning 30 per cent compared to Lajovic’s 53 per cent, Auger-Aliassime was simply out played as he managed to save eight of a possible break point opportunities for the Serbian, but Lajovic did enough to ensure he won in straight sets.

Many in the Sydney crowd expected world number two Djokovic to come out and claim the fairly straight forward win over Denis Shapovalov, but in fairness to the Canadian, his form has been solid over the past couple of months. He shocked the Serbian in the first set, winning 6-4, before Djokovic – as if incensed, took complete control in the second set to win it 6-1, but it took until a massive third set tiebreaker for the multiple Grand Slam winner to finally break free of the up-and-coming Canadian. His 4-6 6-1 7-6 victory meant Serbia was granted entry into the semi-finals, though not without a struggle, taking almost three hours to get the job done. Shapovalov arguably played better for the majority of the game, producing 15 aces to four and one less double fault – seven to eight, while winning a massive 82 per cent of his first serve points. It was the experience and class of Djokovic that eventually got the job done however. The win allowed Serbia to rest Djokovic from the doubles, opting for Nikola Cacic and Viktor Troicki to get some much needed court time, going up against Peter Polansky and Adil Shamasdin. In the end, it was a romp by the Serbians, triumphing 6-3 6-2 in less than an hour as they won 79 and 81 per cent of their first and second serve points respectively, compared to 64 and 67 per cent to that of the Canadians. Serbia now faces Russia in the semi-final to try and turn the tables on the side that bundled it out of the ATP Cup.

In the other semi-final, Spain got off to the best possible start with top 10 player, Roberto Bautista Agut powering his way to a 6-1 6-4 victory over Belgium’s Kimmer Coppejans. The consistent Spaniard was relentless throughout the match, breaking his opponent four times and winning 71 per cent of his first serve points compared to his opponents’ 58 per cent. In the 90 minutes straight sets win, Bautista Agut also put pressure on the less experienced Belgian’s serve, winning two thirds of points on his opponents’ second serve, as well as an impressive 43 per cent on his first serve. On the other hand, Coppejans could only win just over half of his serve points and only a third of his return points, outclassed by a better player on the day despite a solid second set.

The hopes of Belgium’s semi-finals chances laid in the hands of David Goffin against the world number one and in a shock result, Goffin toppled Nadal, 6-4 7-6 in an epic two and a half hour encounter. Both players are remarkably similar in their work rate and ability to make the most of opponents’ mistakes off their serve, with more than half of their opponents second serves resulting in points for them. Neither could seem to breakthrough often enough to really take advantage however, with just five of a possible 24 break points converted between them. The extra break for Goffin helped immensely in winning the crucial first set, given Nadal is greater than 90 per cent likely to win after triumphing in the opening set. In a quirky fact despite the long games, the pair both served 82 times with Goffin only winning four more points for the entire match, but his marginal advantage in first serve points won (76 per cent to 67 per cent) helped him gain the edge to balance the scores in the tie at one apiece.

Lucky for the world number one, he was able to bounce back in the doubles, teaming up with Pablo Carreno Busta in an epic 6-7 7-5 10-7 win over Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen to seal the match. The Spanish pair broke once – from the only break point opportunity – while saving three break point opportunities in the match. Neither side could do much on return, though Spain did make the most of the second serve of the Belgian’s, winning 58 per cent of the points. In a match that lasted more than two hours, it meant Nadal was on court for a whopping four and a half hours before having to front up and play again in the semi-finals today.