.@djokernole seals his fate. The World No.1 keeps his 2015 undefeated clay record alive and advances to RG final. https://t.co/3ymzfyAbeT
— Roland Garros (@rolandgarros) June 6, 2015
After taking care of nine-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal in straight sets in the quarterfinals of the French Open, it took Novak Djokovic the full five sets to dispatch Andy Murray in the semis.
The world’s No. 1 player finally eliminated No. 3 Murray, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 5-7, 6-1 on Saturday in Paris in the continuation of a match that was suspended Friday due to darkness. It was Djokovic’s 28th straight victory this year.
“We tend to run each other around and play cat and mouse game, and it’s tiring. It’s exhausting to play him,” Djokovic said on-court in French according to the BBC. “But, you know, this is the kind of situations that you work for entire year, to get yourself in a position to play against one of the biggest rivals and to fight for major titles. I’m just glad I overcome the change.”The Serb can now complete the career Grand Slam by beating No. 8 Stan Wawrinka in Sunday’s championship match. But Wawrinka, who practiced on Saturday in advance of his first French Open final, will come in off a full day’s rest since his semifinal victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga ended on Friday.
Should Djokovic go on to win the tournament, he would capture his ninth Grand Slam title and join an impressive group of men to win the career Slam.
That list includes Nadal, Roger Federer, Andre Agassi, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, Don Budge, and Fred Perry.
Djokovic, who has lost his two previous French Open final appearances to Nadal (2012, ’14), would also be half way to a calendar year Grand Slam after having won his fifth Australian Open earlier this year.
After forcing a decisive fifth set by winning the third and fourth, Murray fell behind 0-40 in the second game of the fifth and was quickly broken to fall behind 0-2.
Djokovic later took a double-break lead with an inside-out forehand winner to go ahead 5-1.
Djokovic then served it out with an ace to win the fifth set easily and move on to the final.
“I just know that I tried my hardest to get back in the match but it was unfortunate that I could not maintain that level all the way through the match and that Novak played exceptionally well in the fifth,” Murray told ITV.
“It is very hard to play your best tennis across the courts of the match, but it is a case of trying to hang in there when you are not playing as well as you can. That is what happened yesterday.
“This was my best clay-court season- the last time I made the semis here I lost in the straight sets. It was just a shame that I couldn’t get through to a first French final, that would have been nice.”
Murray has gone missing in his final sets against Djokovic this year, losing 6-0 in the Australian Open final, 6-3 in the Indian Wells semis, 6-0 in the Miami final and 6-1 at Roland Garros.
Djokovic improved to 19-8 for his career against the Scot.
Photos: ESPN Tennis / ATP World Tour
