TENNIS – Novak Djokovic held off Andy Murray in five sets 6-3 6-3 5-7 5-7 6-1 to set up a final against Stan Wawrinka at the Roland Garros. Djokovic will play his third final in the Roland Garros against Stan Wawrinka and his 16th career Grand Slam final. There has been a lot of buildup for this match as Djokovic if he wins on Sunday complete the career grand slam and half way to a calendar grand slam. Diego Sampaolo
Djokovic and Murray resumed their semifinal match on Saturday afternoon after their match was interrupted in the 4th set due to the threat of heavy thunderstorm at 6-3 6-3 5-7 3-3. Djokovic held his serve to love for 4-3 in the 4th set. Both players held serve for four consecutive games until 5-5. Murray earned two break points as Djokovic sent his forehand wide. Murray converted on her second break point opportunity to take a 6-5 lead as Djokovic misfired his forehand. Murray closed out the 4th set on his second set point to force the match to the decider.
In their two most recent matches, in the final sets, Djokovic totally dominated Murray winning them at love. This time was only slightly different as Djokovic against raised his level of play to the unplayable level. He started the 5th set holding serve and then earned 3 break point chances on Murray’s serve. He broke him and pulled away for 3-0 before Murray held serve for 1-3. At this point, Djokovic took control of the match and never looked back. He held serve for 4-1 and again broke Murray for 5-1. Murray had no answers to the problems Djokovic was putting his way. The Serb sealed the win with an ace on the second of his three match points extending his winning streak to 28 consecutive matches.
Djokovic is bidding to become the eighth player in history to complete the Career Grand Slam. If he were to win tomorrow, it would be his 9th major title (5 Australian Open, 2 Wimbledon and 1 US Open). He lost two finals in the French capital in 2012 and 2014 against Rafa Nadal.
Djokovic leads Wawrinka 17-3 in their 20 previous matches including a win for the Serb in Australia this year avenging his 2014 defeat. With a win tomorrow Djokovic would become the first player since Jim Courier to complete the Australian Open-Roland Garros double in the same year.
Djokovic had this to say after the match, “No different from any other match that we played against each other. It’s always a thriller, always a marathon. It wasn’t physically an easy match but I think it will be fine for the finals. Whatever I left in me I will put out on the court tomorrow.”
