Djokovic Cruises Past Home Favourite Nishikori
Serbian superstar Novak Djokovic moved one step closer to a first Olympic singles gold medal on Thursday as he defeated Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-2, 6-0 to reach the semi-finals at the Tokyo Olympics.
The World No. 1 is aiming to become the first man to win all four majors and a gold medal in a season, having already captured the Australian Open, Roland Garros, and Wimbledon titles this year. WTA legend Stefanie Graf completed this achievement in 1988.
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"Matches are not getting easier, but my level of tennis is getting better and better," Djokovic told ITFtennis.com. “I know that I'm kind of a player that the further the tournament goes, the better I'm feeling on the court. That's the case here. [It was] my best performance of the tournament tonight against a very good opponent.
"I know Kei's game very well. Him playing in Japan, this court where he had lots of success. I knew that he was going to play very quick, and he was not going to give me a lot of time, so I had to be very alert. I feel I had an answer for everything he had."
Djokovic, who drew level with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on 20 Grand Slams after his SW19 triumph, played consistently from the baseline and hit with great depth to overcome Nishikori in 72 minutes.
The top seed won 85 per cent (17/20) of his first-service points and was not broken in the match. Djokovic will continue his quest for Olympic glory against fourth seed Alexander Zverev after the German downed Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-1 in 67 minutes.
Zverev returned well in the match as he stepped inside the baseline to win 67 per cent (14/21) of points on Chardy’s second serve. The World No. 5 is making his Olympic debut this week and has yet to drop a set in Tokyo.
Pablo Carreno Busta also moved into the last four after the Spaniard upset second seed Daniil Medvedev 6-2, 7-6(5) in one hour and 43 minutes.
The sixth seed, who won his first ATP 500 trophy and sixth tour-level title earlier this month at the Hamburg European Open, was a break down in the second set. However, the 30-year-old rallied against the ROC’s Medvedev, hitting 11 winners to advance.
Carreno Busta will next face Karen Khachanov after the 12th seed battled past Frenchman Ugo Humbert 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3 in two hours and 34 minutes. The 25-year-old hit 10 aces to improve to 3-0 in third sets in Tokyo this week.
"I felt well physically, I felt well mentally," the ROC's Khachanov told ITFtennis.com. "I came here to fight for medals and I’m playing good tennis so far. I’m happy that I’m managing to find solutions to the problems as they appear – this is tennis. I’m enjoying [it] so far, and I want to keep going like that.”