Djokovic rallies again, advances to final in Cincinnati

Murray, who has not beaten Federer since the Australian Open in 2013, will now turn his attention to the US Open which begins on August 31.

“I fought and gave everything I had, but thankfully it’s just been enough in the last two days”, Murray, who lost to Federer in straight sets in the Wimbledon semi-finals, told reporters.

The 34-year-old Swiss earned the opening set with a break in the third game but had to duel in a tiebreaker to claim another straight-sets win and secure his spot in the final on his second match point without the loss of serve this week. “That was the goal and that was the wish coming here in Cincinnati”.

“I think a lot of people in America and outside of America are kind of frustrated and concerned and really scared”, she said.

The second semi-final match will be between world number one, Novak Djokovic and Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov. Murray beat Djokovic for the title in Montreal a week ago.

Serena Williams also achieved victory in the third round by beating Italy’s Karin Knapp 6-0, 6-2. Halep’s win will move her ahead of Maria Sharapova, who withdrew from Cincinnati with a leg injury, into the No. 2 seed for the U.S. Open. I’m pleased with how I’m playing.

Roger Federer faced Andy Murray in the other semifinal.

World number one Novak Djokovic will be aiming for a slice of ATP history on Sunday when he takes on six-time champion Roger Federer in the ATP Cincinnati Masters final. And he’s looking very fresh, especially with his serve.

Before this week, Dolgopolov had lost all four of his previous matches at the pre-US Open event.

Murray, champion right here in 2008 and 2011, had been pushed to 3 units within the earlier spherical by Dimitrov; he even needed to save a match level on his personal serve.

“Every match, it was getting tighter and tighter”, Bencic said. Mainly, he couldn’t keep up with Federer’s serve.

“Physically it was tough to feel great”, Murray said. “That was the difference”. Both players were trading backhand-to-backhand rallies throughout the third game, and once again, the Serb forced Wawrinka to go for a bit more than he liked.

Trying to become the first qualifier to reach the finals at the Western & Southern Open, Dolgopolov took advantage of Djokovic’s sluggish start and won the first set in 31 minutes.

“Credit to him for playing some solid, consistent tennis, always making me play an extra shot”, said Djokovic.

Firing 19 aces top seeded Serena Williams of USA converted first set deficit into profit as she snuffed out the challenge of sixth seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in three sets 3-6 6-4 6-2 in the women’s singles quarter-final match.

Djokovic will face Stan Wawrinka in the next round after the Swiss fifth seed prevailed over Ivo Karlovic to win 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5). A trainer checked his lower rib cage on his left side and his abdomen – Djokovic called it a “minor problem”.