Agence France Presse
New York, Sept 9: Novak Djokovic defeated Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) to reach the US Open semifinals Tuesday, a 21st last-four spot in his last 22 Grand Slams.
The top seed and 2011 champion, playing in his 26th consecutive quarterfinal at the majors, claimed his 55th match win here.
Djokovic, this year’s Australian Open and Wimbledon champion, also enjoyed his fifth win in five meetings against Lopez and will take a staggering 13-0 career record over defending champion Marin Cilic into their Friday’s semifinal.
Cilic reached the last four stage with a 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4 win over France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Lopez managed just five points on the Djokovic serve in the 25-minute opener and was broken twice. But Lopez, one of four men over 30 to make the last- eight, rallied in the second set, breaking in the second game on his way to a 4-1 lead. Djokovic saved one set point but a 10th ace gave serve-and-volleyer Lopez the set 6-3.
The Serb, took the only break of the third set off a Lopez double fault in the second game. He then played the perfect tie-breaker in the fourth to take victory while Lopez was left to rue his 48 unforced errors in a match which finished just after 1am Wednesday.
Defending champion Cilic squandered three match points in the fourth set but came up strong in the fifth to beat Tsonga Tuesday.
Tsonga saved two match points in the 10th game of the fourth set before holding for 5-5, and another in the 12th game to force a tiebreak that he won 7-3 to set up the climactic fifth set.
The ninth-seeded Croat raised up in the final set to break Tsonga at love for a 3-2 lead and served out the set, cashing in his fifth match point.
