It’s a Djok! Another wasy walk for Djokovic at US Open

Novak Djokovic moved into a 10th consecutive US Open semi-final but benefited from yet another retirement against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

In a unusual match that didn’t reach the heights expected of a grand slam semi, the world No. 1 eventually did enough to best the Frenchman in four sets 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-2 and book his place in the final where he’ll play either Stanislas Wawrinka or Kei Nishikori.

Both men were struggling in the late afternoon’s heavy humidity with Monfils supplementing his water intake with a can of cola at a changeover. Behind 5-2 in the third against Monfils, Djokovic got his left shoulder massaged. “Now I know him a little bit better”, Siegemund said during the trophy ceremony.

“Conditions were hard during most of the days during this tournament”.

After Tsonga opened the third set with a double fault he called a halt. It was a rematch of the French Open final, where the Lopezes also beat the Bryans in three sets. But after the match, Monfils admitted that he has a mountain to climb against Djokovic.

“First question is, like, ‘You’re not competing?'”.

“We are people in the heat of the moment and you tend to do things like that”.

“The way I bounce back from that is I take another T-shirt from my bag and I change then I feel better”.

Djoker defeated the Frenchman, who appeared disinterested, bewildered and lacking in terms of effort for the first two sets before mounting a comeback and making a match of it. Incidentally, the Frenchman has never beaten Djokovic in their 12 meetings so far. That manifested itself into a quick start, as he needed just 16 minutes to take a 5-0 lead over Monfils in the first set.

After holding with back-to-back aces, Monfils broke the error-prone Pouille at love to take the set.

Perhaps Djokovic has earned some of his good fortune.

In a demonstration of her credentials, 28-year-old Kerber wrapped up the second set of her quarterfinal by allowing Vinci just five points on her serve.

Pavic and Siegemund made a decision to pair up shortly before the deadline to sign up for the draw at Flushing Meadows and did not drop a set during the tournament. He had played just nine sets coming into Friday’s match because of injuries to his opponents and Djokovic himself has been dealing with a persistent shoulder issue. When Djokovic is at his best, his returns, court coverage and groundstrokes are as it good as it gets in today’s game. In the fourth round, he beat Kyle Edmund 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.

You would have expected so much more from Jo-Wilfred Tonga, ranked ninth against the No. 1 seeded Novak Djokovic, after watching his earlier matches this past week, and listening to his friend and competitor, Gael Monfils, ranked 10th, speak so highly of him. Time on the court is an essential enabling factor in peaking at the right time.

The crowd’s venom woke Monfils up, however, and he won five straight games to lead 5-2.