Djokovic edges Dolgopolov to reach Cincinnati final

Djokovic has never won in Cincinnati, losing the finals to Andy Murray in 2008 and 2011, and to Roger Federer in 2009 and 2012.

Djokovic, who needs a win on Sunday to become the first player to claim all nine ATP Masters titles, lost the first set but escaped a nervy second-set tiebreak in Cincinnati that took the wind out of his 66th-ranked opponent’s sails.

Belinda Bencic has withdrawn from the Western & Southern Open after dropping the first set against seventh-seeded Lucie Safarova 6-2 in the round of 16. But then the nerves of the less experienced Goffin kicked in and Djokovic sniffed the weakness. As the lure of a calendar slam grows into the sort of psychological monster even she can’t ignore, she grows more ruthless, her press conferences more perfunctory, her focus needle-sharp.

Dolgopolov took advantage of Djokovic’s sluggish start and won the first set in 31 minutes. “He obviously didn’t play at his best level, but I felt like I was pretty solid from the back of the court and doing what I needed to do”, Djokovic said, according to ATP’s official website.

Djokovic’s view of their Roland Garros re-match? “Both of us, we are still not playing our best, but hopefully we can rise to the occasion and have a good match“.

Williams won the tournament for the first time past year by beating Ivanovic in the finals.

The Scot admitted that his stamina is running low.

He did have a dominant record over fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, but the 33-year-old man from Madrid was in fine shape, and hit a career-high ranking of No12 this March.

Djokovic has been bothered by a sore elbow that affected his serve.

However, the seeded pair came back strongly to win a breakpoint in the second set.

Not much time had passed since Scotland’s newly-promoted world number two rallied to survive two break points and pull off an unlikely victory over Grigor Dimitrov and he went the distance again on Friday, this time edging out Richard Gasquet 4-6 6-1 6-4 in two hours.

Murray failed with a challenge at 1-1 and although he played some of his best tennis of the match to get back into the tiebreak he eventually lost it 8/6.

Djokovic wasn’t deterred. He closed out the match within minutes, capping the win with one last break. Next in his way: Roger Federer, who has more Cincinnati trophies than anyone else. The defending champion had his first match point at 6-5, after he produced a deep served followed by a scream of “come on”. What happened here was a collision of a focused champion against one whose high-profile distractions of recent weeks might finally be weighing him down, although he denies it. The early offensive by the Swiss paid off in the third game as he broke to lead 2-1.