Djokovic Gets Past Lopez to Set Up Cilic Clash
Novak Djokovic moved past a tricky opponent in 18th seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez late Tuesday night, advancing to his ninth straight U.S. Open semifinal with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(2) win that ended just past 1:00 a.m. EST.
Djokovic came out of the gates firing in front of a quiet crowd that was still coming down off of the Serena-Venus match which preceded it. He broke Lopez in his opening service game, and framed it with a couple of holds, to quickly bolster a 3-0 first-set lead. Another break gave him a 5-0 advantage, and in just 25 minutes the world number one won the opening set.
But any thoughts of a rout were quickly erased, as Lopez’s serve and volley game became more efficient and he was able to break Djokovic in his opening service game. He build a 3-0 advantage, just like Djokovic did in the first, and went on his way to serve out the remainder of the set.
Lopez blasted seven aces in that set and won 80 percent of his first serves to even up the contest.
The turning point in the third set came right in the opening game. Facing a break point, Lopez double-faulted and handed Djokovic the early break, which was all he needed. He hit just six unforced errors in that set and picked up his serve, to take the two sets to one lead.
The fourth set went on serve all the way into a tiebreaker, which is where Djokovic sealed the deal. He dominated the breaker, winning seven of the last eight points to wrap this one up and advance.
“Obviously when you start serving better, more accurate, higher percentage of first serves in, you feel more confident,” Djokovic said of the difference in the fourth set and the tiebreak. “So that allowed me to kind of relax on the returns. Return points I managed to anticipate well. On 2-1 and 3-1, both of his first serves I anticipated well. I returned pretty good and, you know, allowed myself to make two mini breaks, which is a big advantage in the tiebreak.”
Now into the semifinals in Flushing Meadows for the ninth consecutive year, the world number one will face off with defending champion Marin Cilic who hung on to beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga earlier in the day.
Djokovic has won all 13 of the previous meetings between these two, but knows this semifinal will be a challenge.
“I’m sure he’s going to try to be aggressive, going to try to take his chances. That’s how he won last year’s U.S. Open,” he said. “I watched him play. He played great, the best tennis of his life. This is where he loves playing. He loves the conditions on Arthur Ashe. As I said, I’m going to try to use that advantage and having success against him in the past to my favor.”
Credit all photos to Lee Seidner
