The 10th seed had earlier beaten compatriot Lucas Pouille 6-4 6-3 6-3.
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Defending champion Novak Djokovic is through to the US Open semi-finals after a knee injury forced Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to resign when sprawling 6-3 6-2.
Monfils was in control throughout against the match against the 22-year-old 24th-seeded Pouille, who was coming off an epic fifth-set tiebreaker win over 14-time major victor Rafael Nadal.
Nishikori reached the semi-final – his first at any Slam since he finished runner-up in NY in 2014 – with an impressive five-set triumph over world number two and 2012 champion Andy Murray. According to the ATP World Tour’s website, the Serbian star holds a ideal 12-0 record against Monfils in his career, which should provide a bolster of confidence.
When he made his debut at the US Open in 2005, Djokovic was his first round opponent and the Serb overcame cramps and shoulder pain to win in five sets. “It’s very hard to remember a match where he wasn’t hitting the ball clean”, Monfils said.
We’re yet to see if Djokovic’s wrist can stand up to the rigours of a grand slam, and in many ways we won’t really find that out for the rest of the tournament. “So it s tougher for some people to say that I m just a showman”. World No.1 Djokovic held serve to love to close out the set and the Frenchman walked off, giving the Serbian passage into the last four for a 10th consecutive time.
That also sounds like bad news for the 10th-seeded Monfils, who has lost all 12 career matchups against Djokovic.
Monfils beat his opponent 6-4 6-3 6-3.
At the end of two losing sets, 6-3, 6-2, Tsonga received some medical attention, then ended the match before the start of the third.
“I think it was the serve”, said Pliskova, who finished off the match with two of her three aces. He was the Serb’s third opponent to pull out.
The pair clashed as recently as five weeks ago in Toronto and again it was Djokovic who came out on top pretty comfortably, but Gael had played 21 sets in 10 days in very hot conditions in the United States of America and Canada coming into that match. He came back from a set down multiple times against one of the world’s best players and prevented Murray from becoming just the fourth man since 1968 to make the finals in all four majors in a year, per BBC.com. “Enjoys tennis, enjoys life”.
Monfils should take no shame in that statement considering Djokovic is better than everyone at this point as the No. 1 player.
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The unseeded Dane will play German second seed Angelique Kerber in the last four after she defeated Italy’s Roberta Vinci 7-5 6-0. Will Wawrinka and Djokovic set up a rematch of their 2015 French Open final? He reached the final of the claycourt Monte Carlo Masters, and has been a model of consistency in the hardcourt buildup to the US Open with a title in Washington and a semi-final appearance in Toronto in July.
