Novak Djokovic battles past Bautista-Agut into sixth Wimbledon final
Novak Djokovic has defeated Roberto Bautista Agut in a tough four set semi final, seeing him into a sixth Wimbledon final.
Playing for an eleventh time, the surprise semi finalist Bautista Agut had won their previous two meetings this year. However Novak Djokovic was able to keep up his perfect Slam record against the Spaniard today on Wimbledon Centre Court in a 6-2 4-6 6-3 6-2 victory.
Bidding for a fifth Wimbledon title Novak Djokovic put his opponent under a lot of pressure early on, and a series of errors from the 31 year old gave the Serb an early break and 2-0 leave in the first set.
Playing in his first ever Grand Slam semi final, Bautista Agut had never even been in a quarter final before 2019, losing all of his previous nine fourth round matches before this year’s Australian Open. There were however too many unforced errors coming from his racket early on preventing him from breaking back. A long forehand on his own serve gave Djokovic a successive break and set at 6-2.
The second set was a stark contrast to the first. A weak backhand setting up an easy winner for Bautista gave him an early break of serve. 15 time Grand Slam winner Djokovic did well to save two double break points later on, but too many errors from both his forehand and backhand helped the now much more relaxed Spaniard close the set to 6-3.
The two men were toe-to-toe at the beginning of the third set, trading long and gruelling rallies. An exquisite Djokovic however found the first breakthrough as he hit a smash to take his first break point since Bautista’s opening service game. The 2018 champion then managed to hit a quality down the line backhand winner after a 45 shot rally to prevent Bautista breaking back. The rally is the longest ever at the Championships since records began.
The fourth set was much more one sided. Djokovic threw break points away in the opening game, but a Bautista backhand blasted long saw him break in the next game and take a 2-1 lead. A consecutive break after another backhand error from the Spaniard saw Djokovic onto the home straight.
Despite losing four match points on serve, the world number one closed the match with a big first serve, to progress to a 25th Slam final. He will face fellow ‘Big Three’ legend Federer, who battled it out on Centre Court to overcome Rafa Nadal.
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