Djokovic Routs Gulbis to Move Into French Open Finals

The only major title that still eludes Serbian Novak Djokovic in his quest for a career grand slam is the French Open, and he will now play for that championship on Sunday after he defeated Ernests Gulbis 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the semifinals on Friday.

Djokovic looks like a man on a mission at Roland Garros, as he cruised past the 18th-seeded Gulbis in four sets, only facing a small hiccup in the third frame in advancing to the final of the only major he has never won.

Entering the match, the key for the second-ranked player in the world was controlling the powerful serve of Gulbis. With the first set even at two, Gulbis blinked as Djokovic broke his serve in the fifth game to take a 3-2 set lead. A long rally ensued in the ninth game as Djokovic was on his third point, and finally finished off the opening set by sending a perfect backhand return past Gulbis.

That theme would continue in the second set as Djokovic stood his ground on the baseline and countered every serve from the powerful Latvian. He continued his excellent second serve return percentage and had an answer for every serve from the 25-year old Gulbis, who was playing in his first career grand slam semifinal. He committed a number of his 44 unforced errors in the set which allowed the poised and hungry Djokovic to move within one set of reaching the title match.

Gulbis would take a comfort break after the second in an attempt to regain his focus as he faced elimination in the third. He became more aggressive in attacking the net to put the five-time major champion back on his heels, smashing an ace up 5-3 to clinch the set and force the match into a fourth set.

That was all the magic he was able to muster up, however, as Djokovic returned to form in the fourth. Gulbis sailed two forehands that gave Djokovic a 2-0 lead early in the set. After Gulbis clawed his way back to 3-3, he committed another one of his many errors on the day, missing a forehand opportunity that would have broken Djokovic and put the Latvian up 4-3. Gulbis then missed three service points and sailed a backhand wide down 3-5 to clinch the four-set victory for Djokovic.

“The more I play these kinds of matches, the more I’m going to get used to these situations,” said Gulbis. “For me, I take only the positive stuff out of it. Yeah, I need to be in these situations once, twice, three times, and then I can maybe make that extra step.”

The win is the 30th of the season for Djokovic, the most of any player on the ATP World Tour.

“The first two sets were very good for me and then he started to play with fewer errors,” said Djokovic. “It was very difficult to maintain my concentration because the conditions were difficult for me, but I’m very happy to have made it into the final.”

He will now sit and wait to see who his opponent will be in the final as Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray battle in the other semifinal.

Nadal has won the last four French Open titles, including a victory over Djokovic in the 2012 championship. However, Djokovic has defeated Nadal in the last four meetings between the world’s top two players.