Djokovic brushes aside Isner to reach China Open semis

Sets up clash with Ferrer; Nadal fights back to defeat Sock

BEIJING: Novak Djokovic’s China Open charge showed no sign of slowing as he destroyed towering American number one John Isner 6-2, 6-2 to reach the semi-finals in a lightning 52 minutes on Friday.

The top-ranked Serb brushed off the 6ft 10in Isner to notch his 27th straight victory at a tournament where he has never been beaten and has now won 23 sets in a row.

Djokovic finished off Isner with a service winner on his first match point to move past Jimmy Connors and into sole second place for best unbeaten starts at a tournament, behind Nadal’s 31 at the French Open.



Next up for the seemingly unstoppable Serb, who won three out of four Grand Slam finals this year to reach 10 major titles, is Spain’s David Ferrer, who beat Taiwanese wildcard Lu Yen-hsun 6-3, 6-1.

Earlier, life was a little trickier for Rafael Nadal as he was forced to come from a set down against America’s Jack Sock before setting up a chance for revenge in the semi-finals against Fabio Fognini.

The out-of-sorts Spanish great, scrapping to recover his form after a tough year, was outgunned by Sock’s howitzer forehand but he dug deep to see off the world number 30, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

“It was an important victory for me. Obviously I finished the match playing better than what I started,” said Nadal.

Nadal, into his first hardcourt semi-final for more than a year, will now face Fognini, who has beaten him three times this season.

“He’s a great player. When you play against a great player, especially if you don’t play to your best, your chances are lower,” said Nadal of the Italian, who beat Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas 6-1, 2-6, 6-2.

“If I am able to play my best tomorrow... I am going to have my chances. If not, it’s going to be tough. It’s simple. Sport is simple.”

In the women’s draw, Ana Ivanovic beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 7-5 to set up a semi-final with Timea Bacsinszky, who recovered from a first-set ‘bagel’ to beat Sara Errani 0-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Agnieszka Radwanska beat Angelique Kerber 6-1, 6-4 to go into a semi-final clash with the in-form Garbine Muguruza, who halted the run of American qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-1, 7-5.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 10^th, 2015.

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