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. Djokovic managed to hold his serve in another strangely bad service game and broke the serve of Monfils again as he served to stay in the match to reach his 21st Grand Slam final. He came back to win the third set with some inspired play, using his elite speed to thwart Djokovic’s drop shots and frustrate the Serbian superstar.
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The No. 4-seeded Murray and Soares, who won the Australian Open in January, are the first winners of multiple major men’s doubles titles in a season since Bob and Mike Bryan won three in 2013.
Nishikori was the runner-up at Flushing Meadows in 2014.
Down 2-5, Djokovic took massage treatment on his left shoulder during the changeover then staved off a set point in unusual four drop shot game. Monfils even repeatedly tried serve-and-volleying, a style he nearly never employs, and erred often.
While the defending champion looks set to progress in the tournament, an upset on Friday shouldn’t surprise many given the brilliant run Monfils has had in the ongoing tournament.
Gael Monfils had no choice.
Nishikori took the first set 6-4, then went up an early break in the second.
The Serb, however, is set to start with more energy in the tank than his rivals, having benefitted from three retirements en route to the last four and spending just six hours and 26 minutes on court.
So the fluky way his U.S. Open has gone is a benefit, he figures.
Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a return.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC ripped open his shirt like the Incredible Hulk after destroying Gael Monfils to reach the final of the US Open.
After Djokovic, who needed multiple visits from the trainer throughout the match to work on both of his shoulders, lost that third set, he literally tore his white polo shirt off his body in frustration over the way he’d let the set slip away from him.
Replying to a question in his post-match press conference about McEnroe’s criticism towards him, Monfils said, ‘I’m very sad to learn that such a legend criticize me, because at the end what I can say to John is, you know, John, I want to be the best. “The guy is killing me, you know”.
“The way I bounce back from that is I take another T-shirt from my bag and I change then I feel better”.
“I mean, definitely, I would say now that she deserves to be No. 1”, Pliskova said.
The once-dominant Big Four act is no more. “What I got is my speed”.
Djokovic, up 3-2 in the fourth, had his left shoulder worked on. Djokovic entered this match enjoying the easiest path to a major semifinal in the almost half-century of the Open era: Three of his first five foes either stopped playing or pulled out of the tournament entirely because of injuries.
“For sure people were expecting a tougher battle”, Monfils said.
“I think we both physically struggled a little bit towards the end of the third and fourth set, long rallies and tense moments”, said Djokovic, who will try to win the 13th Grand Slam title of his career.
The Frenchman took the opening game of the second set before Djokovic reeled off eight straight points to hold his own serve and break for a 3-1 lead that soon became 5-1.
Defeating No. 10 seed Gael Monfils in a insane, topsy-turvy match, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, required some extra attention but, despite some late cramping in hot and humid conditions, Djokovic still has an advantage.
The Serb double-faulted at the break point and handed the break right back to Monfils to prolong this absolutely peculiar and unexplainable match.
He was roundly jeered again by sections of the 20,000-strong crowd as he dropped the first game of the third set.
Djokovic admitted he was “completely caught off guard” when Monfils, down 0-5 in the first in 15 minutes, stood lackadaisically in the court and began chipping the ball back.
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“I want to (say) to John that I’m more than happy to talk with him”, added the Frenchman. Week in, week out, no one plays with such astounding consistency, “Richard Osborn wrote for USOpen.org”.
