Djokovic storms past Lu and into Wimbledon semis
Novak Djokovic has sailed through his Wimbledon quarter-final match against Yen-Hsun Lu to reach the semi-finals of the grass court Grand Slam for just the second time in his career.
Djokovic claimed a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 victory over the world No. 82 after producing an utterly dominant performance from beginning to end. The third seed played an almost impregnable brand of all-court tennis for one hour and 51 minutes: his serve proving unbreakable; his equally consistent forehand and backhand stroke play; and authoritative volleying making it almost impossible for Lu to punch a hole in Djokovic’s game.
Lu saved two break points in the fourth game of the match; but the third seed created another double break point chance two games later and this time Djokovic secured the break and with it a 4-2 lead in the opening set. He never looked like being leaded from there.
The Serb then consolidated the break with his second love service game of the match, and sealed the set with his third, as he dictated play to his unseeded challenger in a way that Andy Roddick was unable to manage in their fourth round match, when his return game largely abandoned the American.
After a tighter start to the second set, it was again Djokovic who secured the early break, and this time a 3-2 lead. It took five attempts to do it in the seventh game of the set, but the 23-year-old was finally able to secure the double break in the set as Djokovic marched towards the semi-finals.
The 2008 Australian Open champion ultimately sealed the 2-0 lead in the match with his second ace of the match, but a truer measure of the effectiveness of his serve can be found in other statistics. In the first two sets, Lu couldn’t even generate a solitary break point opportunity against Djokovic’s serve, with the top-five player winning 86% of points on his first serve.
Djokovic’s dominance continued into the third set when he secured the break in the opening game, and with it must have all-but extinguished any faint hopes the player from Chinese Taipei may have harboured of staging a fight back against his much higher ranked, and relentless, opponent.
While Lu, who seemed to have exhausted his reserves just getting to the final eight, fought on bravely till the end, he didn’t have the answers to an imperious performance by Djokovic, who moves into the semi-finals with the wind well and truly in his sails.
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