Defending champion Novak Djokovic reached his fourth Wimbledon final with a convincing win over French 21st seed Richard Gasquet.The Serbian top seed won 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-4 and will face seven-time winner Roger Federer in Sunday’s final.
Djokovic, 28, required two bouts of treatment to his shoulder but came through in two hours and 22 minutes.
“It’s nothing that worries me,” Djokovic told BBC Sport. “It will be fine for the next match.”
Djokovic will be trying to win his third Wimbledon and ninth Grand Slam title on Sunday, five weeks after missing out on winning a first French Open in Paris.
The odds favoured him heavily against Gasquet, who had won just one of their 12 previous meetings, back in 2007, and managed just six games when the pair played at Roland Garros last month.
Gasquet put in a far better performance on Centre Court but was still unable to take a set from the two-time champion.
Andy Roddick, three-time Wimbledon finalist |
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“The only reason I am worried about Novak is if you call a trainer you are normally behind in the score and it is gamesmanship. He is giving hope for the hopeless, no reason to show something might be wrong. He wouldn’t call a trainer if nothing was wrong. Can he fix it? Maybe.” |
“It was a good performance, considering the occasion,” added Djokovic. “It’s always tough. Richard had a great tournament and deserved to be in the semis.
“The first set could have gone his way but luckily it went to me.”
Gasquet was in little doubt where the strength of Djokovic’s game lay, saying: “His return. That’s the best because he never misses a return. All the time serve you serve, the ball is always on your side again. It’s very difficult.”
Djokovic looked surprisingly edgy in the ealy stages as Gasquet sent a flashing backhand past him to recover an early break at 2-2, before thrilling the crowd with several more winners off his elegant single-hander.
The Frenchman’s less heralded forehand let him down in the tie-break, however, with two errors giving Djokovic a lead he would not relinquish.
Djokovic had made eight more unforced errors in the opening 53 minutes and yet still took the set, which did not bode well for Gasquet.
The world number one began to find his range in the second, firing a cross-court forehand to break straight away and then seeing off break-back points with a backhand and an ace.
Two visits from the trainer to attend to the Serb’s left shoulder suggested some level of discomfort, but Djokovic hit two aces as he recovered from 15-30 to clinch a two-set lead.
Gasquet was clinging on early in the third and was given a lifeline by Hawkeye after a seemingly wayward forehand on break point, with Djokovic already heading to his chair for the changeover.
The Serb looked less than pleased but gathered himself to earn a second chance with a beautiful angled volley, and Gasquet’s backhand let him down as he found the tram lines.
Djokovic suffered a second nasty slip on the turf and saw two match points slip by at 5-3 but never looked likely to falter, finally sealing victory with a service hold to love.
