Djokovic avoids ’14 upset repeat
Novak Djokovic suffered one of his more painful Grand Slam defeats here four years ago against Japan’s Kei Nishikori.
The Serbian was stunned by Nishikori in the 2014 U.S. Open semifinals, and he has never forgiven him. Djokovic has beaten Nishikori four straight times since, including Friday’s routine 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 semifinal triumph that set up Sunday’s final against No. 3 Juan Martin del Potro.
Djokovic reached his eighth Open final and looks for his third title in Flushing (2011, 2015). Had he beaten Nishikori four years ago, he could easily have three Opens in the bag.
“He was playing very solid, everything: serve, return, groundstrokes,’’ Nishikori said. “I didn’t have many energy to stay with him. He was hitting side to side. Yeah, wasn’t easy to stay with him tonight.”
It was a yawner after Nishikori’s best hope dwindled in the first game of the second set — an eightdeuce marathon. Djokovic wound up holding serve.
The 2018 Wimbledon champion was his brick-wall self, reveling in the cooler conditions. No need for a between-sets ice bath Friday.
Nishikori grew impatient and twisted his knee in the first set, though he finished the match — unlike Rafael Nadal in the earlier semifinal.
Nishikori smacked 51 unforced errors to 27 for Djokovic, who fashioned 17 break points in a 2 ½-hour match. He won 82 percent of his first-serve points.
Djokovic is 14-4 lifetime against del Potro, but they haven’t played this year, nor have they met in a Grand Slam final.
“It will be new for both of us,’’ Djokovic said.
A year ago, Djokovic was in Monte Carlo, wondering if his elbow would ever be right. He finally underwent surgery last February after he could barely serve at the Australian Open. Now he’s on the verge of a WimbledonOpen double.
“There was always part of me that believed I could come back relatively quickly to the level of tennis I once was playing,’’ Djokovic said. “I felt like the six months off served me very well to find new motivation, inspiration, to recharge my batteries.’’
Americans Jack Sock and Mike Bryan backed up their Wimbledon doubles title by capturing the Open with a 6-3, 6-1 finals victory over Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo.