Novak Djokovic dismantles Kevin Anderson to set up ATP Finals title clash with Alexander Zverev

Novak Djokovic produced a masterful display to outclass South Africa's Kevin Anderson 6-2 6-2 on Saturday to set up an ATP Finals title showdown with Alexander Zverev.

The world No 1 was immaculate from start to finish against 32-year-old Anderson as he put himself within touching distance of a record-equalling sixth title at the end-of-season tournament.

He offered up a mere 14 unforced errors and not a single break point as he again proved too good for Anderson, whom he beat to win Wimbledon this year.

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"I think it was the best match I've played so far this week - it came at the right time," said Djokovic, who has been almost unstoppable in the second half of the year.

"Kevin has been playing great tennis this week. He lost his serve in the first game which was big because he relies so much on his serve. I tried to win as many points on his second serve as possible. It worked very well. I'm very happy to reach the final."

Djokovic found his range immediately and the writing was on the wall for Anderson when he dropped serve in the opening game.

Anderson, the first South African to reach the semi-finals in the tournament's 48-year history, simply had no answer to the relentless accuracy of Djokovic's groundstrokes and had to save two break points in his next service game.

Breezing through his own service games - he is yet to be broken this week - Djokovic was able to exert maximum pressure on Anderson's delivery and his opponent buckled to drop serve again as Djokovic pocketed a one-sided opener.

There was no let-up at the start of the second set for Anderson as he double-faulted to go 0-40 in his opening service game, Djokovic duly breaking again as the world No 6 dumped a forehand into the net.

Anderson received a code violation for an audible obscenity but it was hard to blame him for losing his cool as Djokovic continued to turn the screw.

Breaks were arriving with frequency for the Serb and a rasping crosscourt forehand gave him another as he romped into a 5-1 lead.

Anderson nicked one game back but it was a hopeless task and Djokovic put him out of his misery with a net cord on match point to claim a 35th win in his last 37 matches - a run including the Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles to swell his collection of grand slam titles to 14.

Not bad for a man who began the year plagued with an elbow injury that needed surgery and who slumped to 22nd in the ATP rankings as recently as June.

Should he win against the 21-year-old Zverev, whom he beat convincingly in the round-robin stage, the 31-year-old Serb will become the oldest player to claim the title.

Roger Federer, the previous oldest, was beaten 7-5 7-6 by Zverev in the day's first semi-final.

Djokovic and Anderson will resume their rivalry in Abu Dhabi next month as both players have been confirmed for the pre-season Mubadala World Tennis Championship at Zayed Sports City.

Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Hyeon Chung and Karen Khachanov, who inflicted a rare defeat on Djokovic in the Paris Masters final, complete the six-player line-up.