World no.1 Novak Djokovic took a further step towards becoming the first player to retain his Paris Masters title when he saw off Japanese Kei Nishikori 6-2 6-3 yesterday to set up a final with Milos Raonic.

Raonic earlier qualified for today’s showpiece match, his second at Masters level, by downing Tomas Berdych 6-3 3-6 7-5.

“The final, it’s just about really buckling down, hoping to play another great match, and making the most of the opportunity ahead,” said Raonic.

Serbian Djokovic, who is on a 26-match winning run indoors, was never threatened by Nishikori, who beat him at the US Open but lacked energy after battling for almost three hours until late with David Ferrer in the last eight on Friday.

Djokovic extended his advantage over Roger Federer in the battle for the year-end number one spot to 910 points.

He raced to a 4-1 lead and never looked back, appearing effortlessly to send his opponent chasing the ball to every corner of the court.

Following an early exchange of breaks, Djokovic stole Nishikori’s serve again in the sixth game of the second set and it proved enough.

Raonic followed up his quarter-final defeat of second seed Federer by beating Berdych.

After firing down 21 aces against Federer, Raonic had to wait until the fifth game to serve his first but by that time he had already broken Berdych for a 3-1 lead.

Although Berdych read his serve pretty well, Raonic held and bagged the opening set when his opponent’s backhand sailed long.

Berdych, however, broke in the second game of the second set, before holding serve to level the tie.

The third set was a much more balanced affair until Raonic set up the first couple of break points, which were also match points.

He needed only one, wrapping it up when Berdych netted a backhand.