Australian Open: Sublime Novak Djokovic sets Rafael Nadal final clash!
Anything you can do, I can do better! After a thrilling straight est win for Rafael Nadal over Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semi-final of the Australian Open on Thursday, the world no. 1 Novak Djokovic delivered an even more dominant performance against Lucas Pouille, destroying the Frenchman 6-0 6-2 6-2 in an hour and 23 minutes to join him in the title match on Sunday. Novak has advanced into his 24th Grand Slam final, trailing one behind Nadal and six behind Roger Federer, and he is also the second Open era player with seven Australian Open finals after Roger, seeking the record-breaking seventh crown.
Djokovic has won the last ten Grand Slam semi-finals after that loss to Kei Nishikori at the US Open in 2014, scoring his 264th Grand Slam win overall, the 67th at Melbourne Park. Just like in the previous 27 matches against the French players at Majors, Novak was the dominant figure and he had the upper hand from start to finish against the rival who competed in his first Grand Slam semi-final, never scoring a win here in Australia before! Serving at 72%, the Serb delivered fury from his initial shot, dropping eight points in his games and never facing a break point to mount the entire pressure on the other side of the net.
Djokovic finished the match with 24 winners and just five unforced errors, covering the court beautifully and taming his shots in a manner of a true champion to leave Lucas unarmed and without a chance for a more favorable result. The Frenchman had 18 winners and 27 unforced errors, unable to impose his shots or to move Novak from the comfort zone from where he fired clean and well-balanced groundstrokes in the entire match. Novak won almost half of the points on the return, taking the opening set in less than 25 minutes and marching towards the finish line with a double break in each of the next two sets (in games four and eight) to set the final clash against Rafael Nadal that promises to be one of their best clashes considering the form of both players.
Semi-final result:
[1]Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs [28]Lucas Pouille (FRA) 6-0 6-2 6-2
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2UmsPrd
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