LEAD: Injured Djokovic downed by Nishikori; may be a doubt for Paris

By Bill Scott Nov 5, 2011, 17:10 GMT

Basle, Switzerland - World number one Novak Djoklovic could be in doubt for next week's Paris Masters after a shoulder injury contributed to his 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-0 semi-final loss on Saturday to Japan's Kei Nishikori at the Swiss Indoors.

Nishikori earned the biggest win of his career in two and a quarter hours with five breaks of Djokovic, who was playing this week for the first time after taking six weeks off to cure a back problem.

The 32nd-ranked Japanese, a Shanghai semi-finalist three weeks ago, will face the winner from four-time champion Roger Federer or fellow Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka. Nishikori won his only career title in 2008 in Florida as a teenager.

Djokovic was beaten in only his fourth match of the season, playing in pain with the injury which he aggravated at the start of the week.

Djokovic, 67-4 in 2011 with 10 titles, is unsure if he can play Paris from Monday, which ends only a week before the start of the eight-man year-end finals in London on November 20.

Djokovic said he's been having trouble since the start of the week with his shoulder, which has gone from bad to worse.

'It was a shock to the body,' he said of his first win on Tuesday which took more than two hours and proved to be a huge physical test. 'Competition is different to practise. I may have forced things too much.

'I was feeling afraid of the shoulder and what might happen to it,. My rhythm on serve has been completely off.

'I could barely serve for much of the match, I was in pain. My shoulder is very bad, we won't even talk about the third set. I have a lot of pain in the body from the competition this week. I hope I can be ready for Paris.

'I don't think I'll be able to train for the next few days, but I think I'll go straight there.'

The shoulder was the same one which bothered him in the August Cincinnati final with Andy Murray, which the Serb had to quit in the second set.

Djokovic won the first set quickly and came within a whisper of ending with a straight-sets win. But Nishikori lifted his game to make the set a struggle, finally winning it in a tiebreaker to level at one each.

In the third, Djokovic was completely crushed as his injury clearly became too much.

'He played well and made no mistakes,' said the Serb of his opponent. 'He got some impossible shots back. He's on good momentum right now.'

Nishikori, 21, has moved from outside the Top 50 since after the US Open, exploding into form in the autumn in Asia and Europe. He has now defeated four Top 10 players in his career - three in the past month.

'After Shanghai (where he beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga) I've felt different with my game. I'm playing differently, more solid from the baseline and not making any stupid errors.' he said.

Nishikori will play his second final of the season after losing in Houston to American Ryan Sweeting.

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