Djokovic, Federer charge into Wimbledon final
LONDON (Reuters) - Top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic and Roger Federerto advance into the Wimbledon final on Friday.
Djokovic held off a spirited challenge from Spanish outsider Roberto Bautista Agut to triumph in four sets, while Roger Federer scampered past Rafael Nadal to seal the berth in the final.
Remarkably the 6-2 4-6 6-3 6-2 success was the Serb’s 12th victory in his last 13 Grand Slam semi-finals and he is now one win away from his fifth title at Wimbledon and 16th Grand Slam singles crown.
The match turned on an amazing 45-shot rally in the seventh game of the third set, which Djokovic won to hold serve and stay a break up – and from then on he took total control as the Spaniard, who had looked calm and confident in his first Grand Slam semi-final, was eventually brushed aside.
“I had to dig deep. It’s the semi-finals and Roberto was not overwhelmed - he’s a very under-rated player,” Djokovic, 32, said.
“He played really well. He was managing his nerves in the first set but later on he established himself and started to play better. I got a bit tight. It was a close opening four or five games of the third set - that’s where the match could have gone a different way.”
Bautista Agut flashed a brilliant return past Djokovic from the first serve of the match but he barely threatened for the rest of the set as his high-risk approach produced too many errors and a provided a straightforward set win for the favourite.
The second was a different story as Bautista Agut dialled back a little and found that he was able to out-duel the master. Djokovic was making uncharacteristic errors on seemingly simple shots and was frequently left staring skywards, questioning himself and taking issue with the crowd.
Bautista Agut snatched a break in the third game and served superbly to back it up, dropping only four points in five successful service games to level the match.