‘I played the best three sets of the tournament today,’ Novak Djokovic outplays Matteo Berrettini and reaches his 42nd grand slam semifinal

‘I played the best three sets of the tournament today,’ Novak Djokovic outplays Matteo Berrettini and reaches his 42nd grand slam semifinal

Novak Djokovic

World No.1 Novak Djokovic continued his unbeaten run at majors this year and registered a whopping 26th straight win to reach the semifinals of the US Open for the 12th time. The Serb beat Italian 6th seed Matteo Berrettini in four sets 5-7,6-2,6-2,6-3 in almost 3.5 hours.

Djokovic is now just two wins away from completing the calendar slam and taking the all-time lead. He was now beaten Berrettini in three grand slams this year and looked at his absolute best in the three sets that he won today.

Both the players started on a very positive note in the first set. They overcame stern challenge from the other on serve and held it beautifully. Berrettini, as always, looked brutal on his forehand while Djokovic sneaked away with winners on the backhand. The set looked good to go in the tiebreaker but Berrettini changed things around with a late break and capitalized to win the set 7-5. This was also the third consecutive match where Djokovic dropped the opening set.

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But like the previous two, Djokovic once again showed his mamba mentality and bounced back. He came with a plan in the second set and targeted Berrettini’s backhand. The plan was clear- hit solid topspin shots towards Berrettini’s backhand and force him into an error on the slice or finish the rally with a big forehand.

The strategy paid off well as Djokovic won the set comfortably 6-2. He continued the same strategy in the third set and the Italian was left a sitting duck. He didn’t have the control on his backhand slice and couldn’t hit big first serves either. With a double break’s lead, Djokovic one the third set 6-2.

Djokovic once again brought out his best game when needed the most and completely dominated the Italian in the fourth set. The 6th seed managed to cling onto serve for a bit but once again handed a break to Djokovic thanks to his unforced errors on the backhand. Djokovic didn’t waste much time and closed out the set on serve 6-3 to remain unbeaten in the US Open quarterfinals.

The Serb will now face Alexander Zverev in the semifinal, who beat him a month ago at the Olympics.

Also read: Emma Raducanu scripts history and becomes the first qualifier to reach the semifinals of the US Open