Djokovic Dominates Nishikori At Tokyo Olympics, Meets Zverev In SF; Medvedev Out
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Novak Djokovic kept his foot on the gas at the Tokyo Olympics rolling past Kei Nishikori in ruthless fashion 6-2, 6-0.
The Serb was in full domination mode losing just three points on first serve en route to his 22nd straight win and 16th consecutively over Nishikori.
“Matches are not getting easier, but my level of tennis is getting better and better,” said Djokovic.
“I’ve done that many, many times in my career. I know that I’m kind of player that the further the tournament goes, the better I’m feeling on the court. That’s the case here, my best performance of the tournament tonight against the very good opponent.
“Kei, I know his game very well. Him playing in Japan, this court where he had lots of success, I knew that he’s going to play very quick and he’s not gonna give me a lot of time so I had to be very alert. And I feel I had an answer for everything he had.”
Djokovic is now just two wins from a first gold medal. It’s the third time he’s made the Olympic semifinals.
Djokovic will next face the only other guy who hasn’t dropped a set this week in Alexander Zverev. The German also had an easy day blowing out Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-1 in 66 minutes.
Zverev, who is making his Olympic debut, cracked 11 aces to just one double fault, finishing with 26 winners and just 8 unforced errors.
Djokovic leads Zverev 6-2 in their series including two wins in Australia this year. Tomorrow, Djokovic will also play in the mixed doubles semifinals.
In the bottom half, No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev was bounced by Pablo Carreno Busta 6-2, 7-6(5). Medvedev, who went near 2.5 hours yesterday in the heat, was listless early. But after leaving the court after the first, he return and jumped out to a 4-2 lead, however the Spaniard would clay back and take his third career Top 5 win in a breaker.
“This was one of the best matches of my career,” said Carreno Busta. “Daniil is a top player, he is No. 2 in the world and it’s very difficult to play against him. He plays with very high intensity, he plays at a pace that is very difficult to match, but today I managed it.
“I came here for a medal. There are four of us left and there are only three medals so I need one more win to get it. At the moment things are going very well, the plan is going very well. I won’t relax and will continue with this intensity.”
Karen Khachanov hung on to deny Ugo Humbert 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3 to win his 8th match in his last 9.
“Obviously I’m really happy to first still have another match, another opportunity to keep fighting for the medals,” Khachanov said. “And I’m enjoying playing here at the Olympics for our country. It’s the first Olympics for me and for all the guys – Daniil, Andrey and Aslan. We all came here, tried to prepare well.”
Carreno Busta beat Khachanov in Monte Carlo, his third win in five tries against the Russian.
FRIDAY TOKYO OLYMPICS SCHEDULE
Centre Court – starting at 15:00
MS SF (12) KHACHANOV Karen (ROC) vs (6) CARRENO BUSTA Pablo (ESP)
MS SF (1) DJOKOVIC Novak (SRB) vs(4) ZVEREV Alexander (GER)
MD F (1) MEKTIC / PAVIC (CRO) vs CILIC / DODIG (CRO)
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