09. 09. 2010. ·
No.3 seed Novak Djokovic defeated world no.19 Frenchman Gael Monfils in straight sets 7-6(2), 6-1, 6-2 in 2 hours and 24 minutes on Arthur Ashe on Wednesday to advance into his fourth consecutive semi-finals at the US Open.
Monfils earned himself a break point in the third game of the match when Djokovic volleyed Monfils’s passing shot wide. The Frenchman capitalised on it when Novak sent a cross court forehand into the net. The 23-year-old Belgrade native got the break back in the eighth game to level the score to 4-4. The set went into a tiebreaker, Nole won it convincingly 7-2.
Djokovic was in control of the second set. He made four breaks and got broken once for 6-1.
The world no.3 held to love in the opening game of the third set. He broke his opponent’s service in the fourth game and then held to consolidate the break for 4-1 lead. Djokovic faced three break points in the seventh game and saved all three to keep the advantage. He used his first match point in the eighth game for 6-2 and semi-final spot in New York.
Novak said that he was very happy with how he handled the conditions. “I just need to keep the focus and try to use the wind in my favor. This was the tricky thing today. Obviously the conditions were maybe as difficult as we saw so far in the tournament. We didn’t have wind only one direction. We had it all over, you know. I had some struggles when I was coming to the net. In the first set I made a lot of unforced errors there. I am really happy with the way I’m using my experience on the court in those conditions. Maybe playing in these conditions the first couple of matches helped me to develop that.”
The best Serbian tennis player extended his record against Monfils to 5-0.
Match statistics: 1st serve percentage (74%-56%), aces (1-3), double faults (4-6), winners (38-17), unforced errors (50-37), total points won (121-88)
Djokovic will face five-time US Open champion and no.2 seed Roger Federer for a place in the finals. The Swiss beat fifth-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden 6-4, 6-4, 7-5.
Nole was eliminated by Federer in last three years at Flushing Meadows.
2009 US Open, semi-finals: 6-7 (3), 5-7, 5-7
2008 US Open, semi-finals: 3-6, 7-5, 5-7, 2-6
2007 US Open, finals: 6-7 (4), 6-7 (2), 4-6
“It’s a very similar situation like last year. Soderling plays Federer in the quarters, and I am playing the winner. I lost to Federer the last three years that we played here. But every year I tried to win. I tried to go out on the court with positive attitude. He’s a great champion, of course great player. But you never know what’s gonna happen. I don’t want to think about those losses in the last three years, which were really, really close in all those matches,” said Novak about the upcoming clash.
The semifinal match on Saturday will be their sixteenth encounter, Roger leads 10-5.
