After dropping the first five games of the match, he said he turned to his coach – Mikael Tillstrom – and said he was “going to Plan B”.
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The Serbian world No. 1 next faces another Frenchman, Gael Monfils, for a place in Sunday’s final after the 10th seed pummeled compatriot Lucas Pouille 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.
Wawrinka won the 2014 Australian Open and the 2015 French Open. That’s certainly been the case this year at Flushing Meadows.
They split the first two sets, and Wawrinka is leading 4-3, on serve, in the third.
It proved a decisive blow for Nishikori, who was now hobbling with cramp, and Wawrinka showed no mercy as he broke three times in the fourth to seal victory in three hours and eight minutes. But he was broken at 5-6 as Wawrinka took the second in exactly one hour.
Though Djokovic was in cruise control through the first two sets, the journey to his 19th Grand Slam final in his last 25 majors became jarring.
Now Wawrinka will face longtime nemesis Djokovic. “I’m not playing my best tennis in every tournament, but I’m trying to work as hard as I can to give me the chance to play well every time I step on the court”. “You can be the best, but one match is enough”, Monfils said.
“I knew it would be really tough to beat Kei”, Wawrinka said. Djokovic needed treatment on his shoulders and the pair often looked sluggish, not playing anywhere near their best tennis.
Monfils upped his effort levels slightly in the second but not his performance and he hobbled into the changeover, after Djokovic had sealed the set 6-2.
“Passion, perseverance, commitment and self-awareness are key elements of a champion, but these are impossible to maintain without strong support around you”, said Djokovic.
Asked about Friday’s second semifinal, a tired Djokovic said: “I’m going to take a lot of water, put my son to sleep if I can and then watch a little bit of that”.
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.
That premeditated “great strategy” of hoping to lull the No. 1 seed and defending champion into complacency and mistakes, as Monfils described it later, worked briefly, yet did not prevent a two-set deficit.
Nevertheless, Monfils lost 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Novak Djokovic conquered sweltering conditions to beat Gael Monfils in four sets and advance to another US Open final.
Novak Djokovic seemed on his way to a shattering 6-0 first set over Gael Monfils when the funky Frenchman appeared to stop playing seriously.
Djokovic will take the Swiss third seed Stan Wawrinka, who outslugged the Japanese sixth seed Kei Nishikori 4-6 7-5 6-4 6-2 in energy-sapping humidity.
On court after the match, Djokovic dodged questions about his physical issues but he did explain why, after losing the third set, he ripped open his shirt, in one of the contest’s many mysterious moments. “Start to double fault a little bit”.
“It’s always tough to play Roberta, she always comes out to play great tennis”, said Kerber.
Neither a date nor site has been chosen for 2018.
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Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray are all out – leaving No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic as the lone member of the so-called Big Four remaining in Friday’s semifinals.
