Novak Djokovic booked his meeting with Roger Federer in the Australian Open 2020 semifinals with a straightforward win over Milos Raonic on Tuesday.
Raonic was expected trouble Djokovic with his solid serves but apart from the third set in which the Serb world number two struggled with an eye issue, he played like a defending champion would.
And he came away a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (1) winner over Raonic, who was himself making some sort of a comeback after a lacklustre 2019 season. Djokovic missed multiple break-points in the first set but got it when it mattered with Raonic serving at 4-5.
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He continued his form in the second set as well, getting a crucial break of serve before Raonic managed to push the third set into the tie-breaker. Djokovic wasted no time winning the tie-breaker and the match.
In doing so, Djokovic completed his 10th win over Raonic without having lost even one match, and will now take on Federer in the semifinal. Federer had completed another jailbreak with a comeback from behind, five-set win over Tennys Sandgren but not before he needed to save seven match-points in the encounter.
Djokovic also broke down at the end of the match as he remembered basketball legend Kobe Bryant, who lost his life earlier in a helicopter crash.
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Speaking about the quarterfinal, Djokovic added he felt great throughout the match and pointed to his good serving and returning as the reasons for his solid performance in the first two sets.
When asked about his impending clash with Federer, Djokovic said:
“Let the best player win. He is one of the greats and one of my two greatest rivals and I am grateful to have played so many amazing matches against Rafa (Rafael Nadal) and him. I hope to have at least one match point (chuckles), it’s amazing what he did on court and this isn’t the first time he did it.”
Rafael Nadal will play Dominic Thiem while Stan Wawrinka takes on Alexander Zverev in the other two men’s singles quarterfinals on Wednesday.
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