TENNIS FRENCH OPEN – Novak Djokovic remains on course for another French Open final and a possible showdown between him and 8-time champion Rafael Nadal if the top seeds stay true to form. Djokovic took on Milos Raonic for a place in the semifinal and like he did two weeks ago in Rome, Djokovic battled hard against the Canadian to come out unscathed in three sets, 7-5 7-6(5) 6-4. Cordell Hackshaw
Interviews, Results, OOP, Draws from the Roland Garros
Novak Djokovic (2) remains on course for another French Open final and a possible showdown between him and 8-time champion Rafael Nadal (1) if the top seeds stay true to form. Djokovic took on Milos Raonic (8) for a place in the semifinal and like he did two weeks ago in Rome, Djokovic battled hard against the Canadian to come out unscathed in three sets, 7-5 7-6(5) 6-4. In a match that hardly saw either player gaining any real momentum and holding serve became paramount, Djokovic showed that he is both patient and resourceful in the big moments. He makes no illusion about wanting this title and with this win, he has put himself one set closer to taking the crown and with it a career slam.
Things got under way with both men holding serve with relative ease with Djokovic being the opening server. Raonic was using his big serve to get himself into the forecourt whereas Djokovic did battle from the back of the court and the baseline. Djokovic saved a break point during the 7th game to get to 4-3 and had a set/break point on Raonic’s serve during the 10th game at 5-4. Two successive big serves by Raonic erased any hopes of Djokovic taking the set then and it was even at 5-5. Djokovic held for 6-5 and forced Raonic to serve to stay in the set once again. Raonic rained down his massive serves but somehow Djokovic was able to get most of the returns in. Raonic then found it difficult to keep the balls in play and the 1st set ended when his backhand volley missed its mark. Djokovic took it 7-5.
Both men continued to serve exceptionally as neither player saw a break point in the 2nd set. Even in decisive tiebreaker, the server was mostly having it his way. Through to the first 9 points, the server won the point with Djokovic leading 5-4. However, it would be just be the minibreak that would make the difference as Raonic dumped his forehand into the net during the 10th point giving Djokovic the edge 6-4. Raonic won the next point 6-5 but he could not put Djokovic’s serve out wide back into play and saw the Serbian take a 2 sets to love lead 7-5 7-6(5).
This lead proved to be the decisive factor as Djokovic got the read on the Raonic’s serve and began breaking him at will. The Canadian was broken twice to see the match go well out of his reach as Djokovic had a 5-1 lead. Raonic held for 2-5 allowing Djokovic to serve for the match. However, the Canadian was still willing to fight and broke the Djokovic serve for the first time in the match. He gave himself extra life by holding serve at 4-5 and let Djokovic try to serve it out again. Djokovic rarely makes the same mistake twice and he closed out the match 7-5 7-6 6-4 in 2 hours and 22 minutes. “Even though it was a straight set win, few points here and there kind of decided the winner….I knew that he’s going to serve and I’m not going to have many opportunities, but when I do have them, I should use them. I have done well.” said Djokovic after the match.
Raonic compared his experience of facing Djokovic in Paris as opposed to in Rome a few weeks ago; “[H]e was playing a lot closer to the baseline….[H]e was not letting me dictate as much as I was able to in Rome. He was opening up a little bit more with his backhand down the line, where I felt I put more pressure on him in Rome where he wasn’t able to use that as much. I think that’s where I was struggling, so to get on top of him in that sense. My serve kept it close for most of those moments.” As noted, both men served brilliantly with Djokovic winning 75% of his first serve and Raonic 79% of his. The main difference of the day would have to be the 2nd serve and the error count. Djokovic won 74% of his 2nd serve and committed 19 errors whereas Raonic could only muster 29% on his 2nd serve with 40 errors and eventually proved to be closely for the Canadian. Djokovic will face Ernests Gulbis (18) in the semifinals and had this to say on the matter, “He’s been playing really well, he’s confident. But again, I like my chances because I have had now couple of great weeks on the clay courts from Rome to now last ten days here in Roland Garros.”
