LONDON, July 12 (IANCE) Novak Djokovic remained on course to win his 24th Grand Slam title, rebounding from one set down to beat Russia’s Andrey Rublev 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 on Tuesday to reach the semi-finals of the tournament. Wimbledon final.
The Serb will meet Italian Jannik Siner, the eighth seed, for a place in the final. Siner booked his first Grand Slam semifinal appearance by defeating Russia’s Roman Sviolin 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, Xinhua reports.
However, Djokovic would play his 46th major semi-final, tying Roger Federer’s record in men’s singles.
The 25-year-old Rublev was playing his eighth quarter-final, but is still looking for his first slam semi-final match. No man has gone so many Grand Slam quarterfinals without a win in the Open Era. Rublev was also defeated by Djokovic this year in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, as the 36-year-old went on to win the title.
“It was the best I’ve ever had in a Grand Slam. It’s also expected of a player like him, who is a very hard worker, very dedicated to the sport, always trying to improve,” Djokovic said of Rublev.
“I can see the improvement without a doubt. I think he played great tennis today. He was applying a lot of pressure, playing very fast, standing close to the line, trying to push me back up the court. He was managing to do that at some points in the match.”
A tense-packed third set proved decisive, with both players calling out their best tennis for most of the hour-long set. Djokovic pushed Rublev’s backhand through several painful rallies, but Rublev hung solid and found plenty of opportunities to attack from both base wings.
The seven-time winner was forced to contend with five set break points but erased all of them, including three in the eighth game when he served out a two-sets-to-one lead and finally won the longest game of the match after the fight. Through six tie.
Djokovic’s semi-final clash with Sinner will be a rematch of last year’s quarter-final at Wimbledon when Djokovic rallied from two sets down 5-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. They haven’t met since.
The 21-year-old Sinner is the third Italian man to reach the grass court quarter-finals after Nicola Pietrangeli and Matteo Berrettini.
“It feels good. It means a lot to me. There’s obviously a lot of work behind this. Very happy that I can play my first semi-final here in such a special setting, on a private surface. So let’s see how it goes in the next match, Senner said.
Safiullin was making his debut at Wimbledon and produced a range of attacking performances to become the lowest-ranked man to advance to the quarter-finals since then world number 144 Nick Kyrgios in 2014.
Senner shot 36 winners to his opponent’s 27 to seal victory after 2 hours and 14 minutes.
– Jans
C.S
