Djokovic cruises into Wimbledon semifinals beating Nishikori

Embed from Getty Images

Novak Djokovic kept himself as the frontrunner at the championships at Wimbledon Wednesday. The three time champion got his way back into the semifinals taking down Kei Nishikori in four sets 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 on Centre Court at the All England Club in London. It was the first time he reached the semifinals since 2015 during his last tournament win.

A sixteenth edition to their rivalry commenced with the Serb looking to get back to the high points of the tournament. This was their first meeting on grass making it an interesting moment for their careers. While the former world number one has the best experience, he also carried a near perfect run to this point dropping only one set so far. The Japanese star hasn’t been so lucky going four sets three times including his win over Ernests Gulbis. Though Nishikori has taken Djokovic to four sets at the most, he would try to put his best foot on center court to try for his first Wimbledon semifinal.

They went on serve through three games until Djokovic broke his opponent in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead. The 28 year old put together a break of his own pulling off an inbetweener return before returning another for the win. He made it two straight leveling back with Djokovic returning them to serve after six. The Serb held serve and took it upon himself to get another break which was helped out by a wide return from Nishikori.

The 24^th seed knew the mistake would cost him the set as Djokovic served it out in the ninth. Though he had to play it on deuce, the 12^th seed laid down the only ace of the set before a four shot rally ended with a ball going wide of the court ending 37 minutes. Djokovic landed 12 of 15 on the first serve despite it being under 60 percent. His actions were enough to trouble Nishikori on his second serve that scored two seven from it.

He improved in the second breaking early on Djokovic who took a penalty after the third for smashing his racket into the grass. The Serb lost his cool during the break arguing the call that he let Nishikori get out to a 4-1 lead. A hold by the 12^th seed got him back within two but couldn’t recover the entire deficit as Nishikori stayed out front serving out the set in the ninth to even the match after 42 minutes. While he didn’t overtake the strength that Djokovic contained, his second serve improved winning almost half the points and getting ten winners in the process.

He stayed in the third for as long as he could serving with Djokovic through four games before the Serb achieved the first break. He controlled the set from that point on taking the sixth on serve before making it a 5-2 lead with Nishikori on serve to extend the set. He couldn’t get on point as he lost the first from the forehand before Djokovic took the next one and opened to two set points that gave him back the lead after 34 minutes.

He showed no intent on letting the fourth set get out of his hands with the semifinals sitting closer than ever. After letting Nishikori earn a break to begin the set, he answered back with a break of his own before conducting a solid strategy to shut the Japanese star down. Djokovic earned the double break in the fourth before taking a 4-1 lead holding the 24^th seed back two points. Unwilling to give the Serb a triple break, Nishikori made good to bring together some winners to notch a second win on unforced error from his opponent.

The Serb didn’t let that bother him as he was on a mission to get the match over a done with. He made his statement clear on serve scoring a solid service hold in the seventh before playing Nishikori who was down three games. He lost all the ground he built up before letting the Serb get to deuce. The 12 seed needed only two break to land a final winner away from Nishikori to end the battle in 2 hours and 34 minutes.

"It feels great to be in the last four of a slam," Djokovic said to the BBC. "Ive been building on the last couple of weeks on a level of tennis that ive played in the last couple of months. It was kind of looking like and felt like it was getting better and better as matches and time went on and feel like im peaking at the right moment."

Djokovic outscored his opponent winning 27 more points landing more winners while keeping the unforced errors in check. With him taking another step in the right direction, he'll await the winner between Rafael Nadal and Juan Martin Del Potro on Friday.

Ostapenko reaches Wimbledon semifinal with straight sets beating of Cibulkova

Embed from Getty Images

Dominika Cibulkova couldn’t bring together the power of her opponent at the championships at Wimbledon Tuesday. Jelena Ostapenko scored so many winners against the Slovakian taking her down in straight sets 7-5, 6-4 on Court No. 1 at the All England Tennis Club in London. It was the first time the 21-year-old made the semifinals putting herself in a spot to make history for the third time.

The series remained in the hands of the Slovakian prior to their third where one would go into their first Wimbledon semifinal. Cibulkova has defeated the Latvian before on grass taking her down in straight sets at Eastbourne two years ago. With both strong on grass and neither one dropping a set, it was guaranteed that one of them would.

With that being a small notion to both of them, the competition got started with the two on deuce as Ostapenko denied her a clean service. The Latvian scored the AD point on a stretched out crosscourt winner before lobbing the game point away from Cibulkova for the break. The Slovakian scored a break in the second before trying to get back on serve in the third. She did that before adding a second break to her score taking a two-game lead on the 12^th seed.

The 29-year-old enacted a stance in front of the court responding very well on the returns before nailing down the winners to Ostapenko who she had running around the court at times. The 12^th seed ran back to win two straight avoiding giving up a double break and nailing down the service hold in the sixth. The winners were coming together for Ostapenko who searched for her chance to control the set. While she didn’t get the break in the seventh, holding serve kept her in touch with Cibulkova who was clearly hard to overtake.

The Slovakian hunted down the set but wasn’t getting much as the Latvian shot winners out of reach giving up one point to force the set deep. The effort to get it done helped her offense greatly to break Cibulkova in the 11^th before putting it all together with a serve to love to take the set 7-5 in 45 minutes. While her serve wasn’t at a level that she wanted it, Ostapenko having the lead was key to improving the second serve. She clearly had Cibulkova beaten on winners scoring 23 to her four but had more than twice the number of errors to limit going into the second set.

She got a break up in the third taking the lead for the first time in the match but didn’t hold it long as Cibulkova matched her back in the fourth. Just when it looked as if she’d find the groove to get back into the set, her serve dropped giving Ostapenko another break to lead. A hold in the sixth put her back out front with two left to go with the Slovakian in trouble and already a set down. She fought to achieve a break on the Latvian after she lost points on the backhand. It gave Cibulkova a game-winner that put her a game down with the chance to save the set from getting out of hand again.

Ostapenko held firmly in the eighth reaching the chance to serve to love getting it on an ace for a chance to play for the match. The 29-year-old who didn’t have the speed of her opponent struggled on serve with a double fault before getting on the board with a forehand error from the world number 12. She let her back in with another one blowing a double match point chance. A third straight error from Ostapenko handed Cibulkova a sigh of relief but lobbed one high to put the game to deuce. The forehand ruined her chance to break for the win but needed to serve clean to disallow Cibulkova a shot at turning the set around. She scored three good points for winners earning three match points coming on a line drive winning return that ended the match in 1 hour and 21 minutes.

“It was a very tough match,” Ostapenko said to the BBC. “I was just trying to enjoy it because it's really great to be here in the second week and now I’m in the semis and really happy with the way I played. Dominika played well and I was down in the first set and fought till the end. I think I finished kind of confident.”

Ostapenko finished with her game under control despite having 28 unforced errors. The power of getting 32 winners and five aces took those problems down by a significant degree. With only two more to go before trying to become the third woman to win the girl’s and ladies titles at Wimbledon, she’ll take on Angelique Kerber in Thursday’s final four match up.

Nadal gets another straight sets win at Wimbledon to make QFs

Embed from Getty Images

Rafael Nadal earned a comprehensive win to advance on at the championships at Wimbledon on Manic Monday. The second seed had a sigh of relief in the final set as Jiri Vesely surged but was held back in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 on Centre Court at the All England Club. Nadal outscored the Czech 91-65 in just another day on court for the two time winner to move into his 6^th career quarterfinal.

The two met three years ago on the clay court where Czech experienced a challenge against the King of Clay going down in straights sets. He had only dropped two sets while Nadal had yet to drop one. While this wasn’t on Nadal’s strongest surface, Vesely would try to see if he could make a dent occur early and go for a big moment of his career.

The Czech stayed with Nadal in the opening service games but his mistakes gave Nadal the two game buffer after four. It was soon 4-1 for Nadal before Vesely managed to get his serve locked in in the sixth to sit two back of the second seed. Nadal inched closer to the set with a hold in the seventh but couldn’t break the Czech into bringing an end to the first. He had to do it himself reaching two set points that he saw get done on a forehand from Vesely into the net completing 30 minutes. It saw Nadal allow just two points on serve and commit one error through nine games total.

Vesely opened to hold serve to start the second going four games before he was broken in the fifth. Nadal took back control with a hold of serve in the sixth showing his comfort to conduct the set his way. The Spaniard couldn’t get a break but held on serve again to play for the second set delivering a lined slice that Vesely swung and missed at ending 34 minutes with Nadal up two sets to none. The 32 year old had a well-rounded service game in the mid to upper seventies scoring 16 winners against Vesely while committing three unforced errors. While his return game wasn’t up to par, the pace was clearly in a mold that he could handle.

Vesely wanted out of the pace that Nadal had set and did so with a break after four games of serve. Nadal got under pressure a little but overcame the short deficit after a couple of points went his way to get the game. The first was a ball that popped out of Vesely’s short pocket and the other landing a millimeter away from the line on a challenge. It was three all with Nadal trying to break away from the Czech doing so with very tricky returns in the rallies.

He did so in the seventh but saw Vesely staying close to him all the way through eight. A key hold for the Spaniard in the ninth but the Czech on the edge of elimination but battled to play every point in the tenth possible. A great backhand gave him game point but a backhanded return into the net sent the two to deuce. A tough return on the first break from Vesely gave Nadal match point only to be trumped by an ace from the 24 year old kept him alive. He saved a second one with an ace on the T before nailing a cross court ace for a second shot at sending the set forward.

Two shots into the net from Vesely gave the Spaniard a third try at closing things out getting it on a ball wide of the net ending 1 hour and 53 minutes. “It was an important moment for me to get back into the quarterfinals,” Nadal said to BBC Sports. “I’m happy to be where I am and I’m playing well so just enjoying every time that I have to play on this amazing court.”

“He (Vesely) started to play better from the baseline and I made a couple of mistakes with the game that I lost with my forehand and felt like I came back straight in the next game and a key moment to hold in the final games.”

With the day off tomorrow, Nadal would take the time to rest and prepare for Wednesday’s quarterfinal against either Juan Martin Del Potro or Gilles Simon.