Djokovic romps into semis; Bencic in final

Tokyo, July 29: Novak Djokovic maintained his Golden Slam bid by thumping Japanese hope Kei Nishikori to reach the men’s Olympic tennis semi-finals, while his chief gold-medal rival Daniil Medvedev was dumped out on Thursday.

In the women’s draw, Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic set up a final against Naomi Osaka’s conqueror Marketa Vondrousova with a marathon victory over Kazakh Elena Rybakina.

World number one Djokovic, who has already sealed the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon titles this season, brushed aside Nishikori 6-2, 6-0 in just 70 minutes.

“My best performance of the tournament tonight against a very good, very good opponent,” said Djokovic, who is looking to emulate Steffi Graf’s 1988 Golden Slam — winning all four majors and the Olympic medal in the same year.

“I feel I had an answer for everything he had.”

The Serb did not have to be in peak form against an opponent who offered very little and made 16 unforced errors.

Djokovic, whose best Olympic result was a bronze medal in Beijing 13 years ago, will face German Alexander Zverev in the last four on Friday after the fourth seed’s 6-4, 6-1 win over Jeremy Chardy.

Djokovic looked comfortable throughout against Nishikori, with the match played in cooler conditions than earlier rounds after he and Medvedev were among players to lobby organisers to change the schedule. “It’s great that we’re playing in the afternoon hours, so we don’t experience too much heat, although it’s still very, very humid,” he added.

Djokovic will be the hot favourite to reach the final for the first time.