World no.1 Novak Djokovic has marched into the semi-finals of the 127th edition of Wimbledon after beating no.7 seed Tomas Berdych 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-3 in two hours and 15 minutes on Wednesday.
Novak, who hasn’t dropped a set in five matches at the All England Club this year, finds himself in last four of The Championships for the fourth year in a row.
It will be the 13th consecutive Grand Slam semis for the top-seeded Serb. That’s the 2nd-longest streak since 1925, behind Federer’s 23 successive Major semi-final appearances. The next longest streaks were 10 straight, done by Ivan Lendl and Rod Laver.
The 2011 Wimbledon champion hit 15 winners and only two unforced errors on the way to taking the opening set, which he secured by winning a tie-breaker 7-5.
Djokovic suffered a lapse of concentration at the beginning of the second set, letting his opponent break him twice for a 3-0 lead. He quickly composed himself and won six of the next seven games to wrap it up 6-4.
A break in the fourth game of the third set was enough for Nole to seal the 38th win of the season, his 14th victory in 16 career meetings with the Czech.
“The tie break was decided by one mistake at 6-5. It was a very close match, it could have gone either way,“ Djokovic said. “He could have won the first two sets, he had a double break in the second. I don’t know how I managed to turn it around. Just returned and served well when I needed to, I’m really happy with the performance.”
Novak capitalised on four of his 10 break points; Berdych went 2/2 on break point chances.
Match statistics: aces (16-6), double faults (1-4), winners (36-31), unforced errors (13-25), total points won (102-86).
Novak will face no.8 seed Juan Martin del Potro on Friday. The Argentine defeated fourth-seeded David Ferrer in straight sets.
Nole leads their head-to-head record 8-3. They are tied 1-1 this year, with Djokovic winning the Dubai semis and Delpo recording victory in Indian Wells.
“I lost to him a very close match for a bronze medal here. Delpo is a great player, a Grand Slam winner. I respect him,” Djokovic said of his next rival. “He has struggled with injuries in the last few years, but every time he comes back stronger. He is very tall, so he uses serve as a powerful weapon, and of course forehand, his signature shot. It’s semi-finals, so everything is on the table. We both want to win.”
Photo: AP
