2011 Australian Open, Novak Djokovic sails into semi-finals
2008 Australian Open champion, Novak Djokovic, secured a berth for himself in the semi-finals after he defeated world number six, Tomas Berdych.
Looking to recapture the Australian Open title for the second time, Djokovic started his seventh run at the event last Monday.
Having debuted in 2005, the Serb’s career best at the event came in 2008 when he defeated Roger Federer in the semis and then Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final to clinch his first and so far only Grand Slam win.
His 2010 run at the event was stopped short at the quarterfinals where he lost to Tsonga. Going one step further this year, Djokovic sandwiched a tiebreaker win in between breadsticks victories to defeat Berdych in straight sets.
Serving first in the opener, Djokovic went 1-0 in the lead. Although, he lost the second game to Berdych, Djokovic managed five successive game wins breaking Berdych’s service twice to secure a 6-1 win.
Coming into the second set, the number one Czech put up a fight leading the set 4-2 at one point.
However, Djokovic wasn’t forgiving in his assaults. The neck-to-neck run between the two pushed the second set into a tiebreaker. The tooth and nail competition continued into the tiebreaker.
Although, Djokovic was leading the score 5-2 at one point, Berdych wasn’t going to give up so easily. Fighting back he managed to tie the score 5-5.
However, he could not continue his form and eventually lost the tiebreaker 5-7.
The loss seemed to have broken the Czech spirits. Winning only one game, Berdych had his service broken twice.
In only 40 minutes, Djokovic was able to clinch another breadstick victory and secure a berth for himself in the semis.
The number one Serb hit thirty-nine winners, including ten aces, committed only one double fault and cashed in on Berdych’s 32 unforced errors.
Losing only 29 of 93 points on service, Djokovic was able to sail into the semis where he will be met by defending champion, Roger Federer in a rematch of the 2008 semi-final where Djokovic defeated the Swiss en route to the title win.
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