He will seek his third major championship Sunday against the top-ranked Djokovic, who he defeated at Roland Garros in 2015.
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Wawrinka is trying to win his third Grand Slam title and match Murray, the Big Four’s weakest link.
Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, serves to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, of France, during the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, in NY. In the quarterfinals, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga stopped after two sets plus one point with a hurt left knee.
Down a set and a break on Friday (September 9), the third-seeded Wawrinka took control to oust Kei Nishikori 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-2.
Angelique Kerber reached the second round of a Grand Slam for the first time at the 2008 Australian Open.
Wawrinka has played a staggering 23 sets and 237 games.
Kei Nishikori, of Japan, reacts after defeating Andy Murray, of the United Kingdom, during the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016, in NY.
The first set was where things started going insane. He will be competing in his seventh Grand Slam final in two years.
He has a tough task against Wawrinka, a man who upset him past year in the French Open final. When the guy is too good, playing clean and you’re playing not that good, you need to change.
By the end of the second set, Djokovic looked certain to make it 13 consecutive wins over Monfils.
Monfils said: “At the beginning I think Novak has been good, I didn’t serve great, it was very quick 5-0 and I got to change a little bit”.
“The first question is you’re not competing. I’m very sad to learn that such a legend criticized me, because at the end what I can say to John is, ‘I want to be the best'”.
“I’ve seen strategy changes”, ESPN analyst John McEnroe said on the broadcast, “but this tops everything”.
But even Monfils’ borderline outrageous tactics were insufficient to bamboozle Djokovic, who survived some anxious moments to win in 2½ hours, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.
“I got a lot of days off and recovered my body”.
NEW YORK (AP) Facing an opponent who occasionally played as if he had somewhere better to be, Novak Djokovic reached his 21st Grand Slam final and seventh at the U.S. Open with a freakish 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Gael Monfils on Friday.
There are no chances of fatigue affecting the top seed as he has played only nine completed sets at the Flushing Meadows in 2016. In his first five rounds he did not face an opponent inside the top 45 while he had to save a match point to beat Britain’s Dan Evans in the third round.
Kei Nishikori conceded his five-set battle with Andy Murray took its toll in his US Open semi-final defeat to Stan Wawrinka on Friday.
Gael Monfils has come to play, suddenly, while Novak Djokovic is getting his left shoulder massaged, as they head to a fourth set in their unusual U.S. Open semifinal.
In a freaky and disjointed match played in brutal heat and humidity, Djokovic deconstructed the flat Frenchman, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, to advance to his sixth US Open final in the last seven years.
But Monfils came back to take the third set 6-3, and Djokovic got treatment on his shoulder during a couple of changeovers. Down a break in both the third and fourth sets, he broke back each time.
Djokovic raced to a 5-0 first-set lead and earned a set point after all of 19 minutes, but Monfils held there. And then just that service game on 5-1, that’s when it started.
“I had phases when I was pissed off, phases when I was entertained by what he’s doing, and phases where I was upset with myself for allowing him to disturb my rhythm”, Djokovic said.
Monfils dropped the first two sets in disheartening fashion, his lackluster play giving the appearance he was throwing the match.
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Del Potro, the US Open victor from 2009, played some of his best tennis this tournament and recently won the silver medal at the Rio Olympics, but it’ll be back to the drawing board for him.
