Day 12 of Australian Open 2019, and the second men’s semi final.
This was match one in the night session on Rod Laver Arena:
Novak Djokovic (1) (SRB) v Lucas Pouille (FRA)
Lucas had never won a match at the Australian Open before this year, so to reach a semi final in 2019 was to be applauded, and much of the off court credit due to the coach / player relationship with Amelie Mauresmo.
Novak Djokovic has won six AO titles, and a seventh would set him apart from the rest. Whenever he has reached a semi final in the past, he has proceeded to win the championship, so if successful in this years semi, then Nadal would have a great battle on his hands.
Djokovic served first, and despite two aces, was taken to deuce, but held for 1-0. Pouille, with three unforced errors, faced two break points, saved those, the second with an ace, but a Djokovic forehand winner and Pouille double fault gave the top seed a 2-0 lead.
A love game from Djokovic, forcing errors on the French backhand, took him quickly to 3-0, and his second break chance in the fourth game was realised when Pouille produced a forehand unforced error. 4-0.
Another Serbian love game, complete with the standard two winners and ace, moved Djokovic to within a game of the first set.
Three more winners from Djokovic on the Pouille serve and two set points emerged.
One saved, but an unforced forehand error ended a 6-0 set for Djokovic.
Djokovic lost one point when holding serve in the opening game of set two. Pouille then registered his first winning game for the night, three winners included. 1-1.
Djokovic wasn’t so generous when Pouille next stepped up to serve at 1-2 however. A forced backhand error produced break point, and Pouille surrendered the game with a double fault. 3-1 Djokovic.
Djokovic served to love, sealing it with an ace for 4-1.
At 2-5, Pouille served to stay in the set. He had two chances to hold serve, but they disappeared. The one set point offered to Djokovic was grabbed with open arms, and the set was stopped when Pouille’s backhand failed. Djokovic 6-2.
The first three games of set three went to the server and Djokovic led 2-1.
A game point for Pouille passed him by, but a break point for Djokovic was used and he was ahead 3-1.
Three love games on serve and it became 2-5 with a French serve to come.
After a Pouille forehand winner, two forehand failures came from the same racquet. A forced forehand error and two match points. The match was over on the second of these, another Pouille unforced forehand mistake.
Novak Djokovic took less than ninety minutes to win 6-0 6-2 6-2 and book a meeting with Rafa Nadal in the final, continuing the biggest and closest rivalry in modern tennis.
Djokovic hit 24 winners and committed only 5 unforced errors for the match
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