Novak Djokovic overcame a late-match blip to battle past Kei Nishikori 6-3, 7-6(4), in the semifinals of the Madrid Open.
The world No.1 was looking to continue his commanding winning record over the former US Open finalist. The Serbian currently has a win-loss record of 7-2 against Nishikori, winning their six most recent meetings prior to Saturday’s semifinal.
Djokovic came under pressure at the start of the match when Nishikori produced a trio of impressive shots to earn himself three break points in the first game. Impressively the top seed battled back by winning five straight points to hold his serve. The early scare seemed to be the only thing to trouble the Serbian until a sudden decline in his game towards the end of the match.
As the match continued on Djokovic’s terms, with him breaking once with ease in both sets, he seemed destined to close the match out with little trouble. The only issue for the Serbian was that Nishikori had other plans as he continued battling like a warrior on the court. Leading 6-3, 5-4 (40-0), an unexpected bout of the nerves started to affect Djokovic as a series of errors combined with some sharp Nishikori hitting allowed the Japanese player to break back and level 5-5. It was the first time that Djokovic has been broken in the entire tournament. The unexpected resurgence in Nishikori’s form resulted in a vital tiebreaker for both players.
In their 9-match rivalry before Madrid, Djokovic was yet to win a tiebreaker against the Japanese player, trailing 0-2. The curse was finally broken after a costly forehand cross-court error from Nishikori gave Djokovic a break for 5-3. Taking advantage of the break, Djokovic fired an unreturned serve out wide to award him two more match points. This time he was able to capitalize after a long rally between the two finished with Nishikori failing to return the ball over the net.
“I knew it was going to be a tough match. Obviously he felt the ball very well, trying to be aggressive on every short ball, hitting through, and trying to finish off the points.” Djokovic said about Nishikori’s performance.
“It wasn’t easy because the conditions were different as well.”
Reflecting on his wobble towards the end of the second set, Djokovic played down the significance of it and instead praised Nishikori’s performance.
“Matches can turn around very quickly, this was an example of that. In sport things can happen. You can have as much experience as possible and these moments, these things can happen.” The world No.1 said.
“Especially if you’re playing somebody like Kei that has a lot of quality and is very aggressive and that jumps at the first opportunity he has.”
In the Madrid final Djokovic will play defending champion Andy Murray for a chance to win a record 29th Masters 1000 title. The world No.1 has a winning head-to-head of 22-9 against the British player and has won all three of their encounters on the clay. It will be their second meeting of the year after Djokovic’s straight sets win over Murray in the final of the Australian Open.
“He has improved tremendously on clay the last couple years,” Djokovic said about Murray.
“We all know that clay was not his most preferred surface in the past, but he’s known to be a very hard worker, a guy who has lots of dedication, and is always trying to improve and get his game to another level.”
The semifinal win is Djokovic’s 14th consecutive triumph over a top-10 player.
