“I’m in the semifinals, so that’s what matters for me the most”, Djokovic said after quarter-final foe Jo-Wilfried Tsonga retired with a left knee injury while trailing 6-3, 6-2. Second round opponent Jiri Vesely pulled out before the start of their match with a left forearm injury and Mikhail Youzhny was forced to quit during the first set of his third round match against Djokovic with a hamstring issue.
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Nishikori reached the semi-final – his first at any Slam since he finished runner-up in NY in 2014 – with an impressive 1-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 triumph over world number two and 2012 champion Murray. However, despite saving two break points in the very next game, Djokovic broke once more and was now serving for the set. The ninth seeds serve failed him as he fired three double faults as he gifted the 30-year-old the first break for 4-2. “He’s been playing good tennis”, said Nishikori who has a double target this weekend.
The U.S. Open is the last of the season’s Grand Slam events, but it’s gradually turning into a cakewalk for Djokovic, who advanced to face Frenchman Gaels Monfils in the semifinals Friday.
The latest retiree was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Tuesday, who did at least manage to complete two sets before admitting defeat.
“Of course I was a bit exhausted today”, Pouille said.
Kerber now meets Caroline Wozniacki.
“That’s why people think, ‘Oh he’s jumping, he’s sliding.’ In the end, you think I’m stupid?”
Djokovic and Monfils played this summer at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, a match in which the Serbian had a battle on his hands at first before grinding the Frenchman down in long rallies.
“It’s something I had already in the past”, the Frenchman noted.
He never had won a U.S. Open match or any match that lasted five sets until last week; his 4-hour-plus win against Nadal on Sunday was his third five-setter in a row.
Elsewhere in New York, Caroline Wozniacki progressed to a fifth US Open semi-final after overcoming Anastasija Sevastova 6-0 6-2.
He showed his consistency in the hardcourt build-up to the US Open with a title in Washington and semi-final appearance at Toronto in July.
Gael Monfils is coming off a straight sets win over Lucas Pouille that took 28 games to decide.
German Angelique Kerber reached the semi-finals to step up her bid of becoming world No.1 with straight-set win over Italian Roberta Vinci. He has benefited from two injury withdrawals during matches and one walkover, in the second round.
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Kerber has been a force to reckon in women’s tennis after winning the 2016 Australian Open and reaching the finals of coveted Wimbledon earlier this year. Keber, who will be world No. 1 if she wins the tournament, was ruthless in the second set as she outclassed the Italian with a 6-0 rout that lasted for 24 minutes.
