Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams reach semifinals in Cincinnati

Smacking his racket on the court after losing serve, top-ranked Novak Djokovic pulled himself together and rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the final set to defeat David Goffin to a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Open in Mason, Ohio. But top seed Djokovic was able to get his game back on track just in time and take advantage of the 24-year-old Belgian’s inexperience to reel off the final six games of the one-hour, 46-minute contest, Efe reported.

In other matches, 12th-seed Richard Gasquet beat Kokkinakis 7-6(5) 6-2 while South Africa’s Kevin Anderson beat American Jack Sock 6-3 7-6(6).

Murray somehow held his serve, broke Dimitrov, and held once more to clinch a 4-6 7-6 (7/3) 7-5 victory.

The scoreboard reflected service games with Wawrinka’s power from the base-line and Djokovic’s athleticism up-and-down the court getting the job done in equal measure. “I’m excited for U.S. Open“. “Especially Serena – every time she was down and her back against the wall, she came up with the best shots”. Despite that though, an error-filled final two games from the Swiss halted any chance at a comeback as Djokovic took this match 6-4, 6-1.

“I’m very happy with how I got out of the blocks again”, said Federer, who last played in the Wimbledon final.

Murray is looking for his third Cincinnati Open title, having previously won the title in 2008 and 2011.

Wawrinka, the reigning French Open champion, had to overcome 35 aces by Karlovic to reach the quarterfinals for the second straight year.

“I think the first break always gives you a bit of a boost and right then I felt conditions weren’t that fast and I could probably get some more balls back than maybe a day session”, Federer said.

Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic’s eight-match winning streak came to an end thanks to Lucie Safarova, and injury.

Djokovic has never won Cincinnati.

Williams avoided confirming they had spoken recently, but did say, “I see her post things about me, and that’s pretty awesome”.

Svitolina is 0-2 against Williams, but their last meeting went three sets.

The 18-year-old said her forearm has been sore for some time. Jelena Jankovic punished eighth seed Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.

With Williams first serve percentage hovering below 40%, Ivanovic again pressured with her strong returns and soon found herself level at 3-all.

“I’m just happy I managed to fight through a lot of tough matches, hard situations, and hopefully that will stand me in good stead for the US Open“.