Djokovic breezes by Monfils

Djokovic: Another appearance in the last four at Flushing Meadows

I'm just so happy to go through in straight sets in these conditions, I think these are the worst conditions of the tournament so far

Novak Djokovic
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Novak Djokovic made it through to the semi-finals of the US Open for a fourth successive year with a 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 6-2 victory over Gael Monfils.

Serbian Djokovic overcame a 4-2 deficit in the opening set by winning 17 of the next 21 games in a contest hampered by strong winds.

Monfils had been expected to put up more of a challenge in the opening men's quarter-final after impressively disposing of fellow Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the last round.

The 17th seed did make a strong start, recording the first break of serve in the match to take control of a highly-competitive opening set.

Ambitious

However Djokovic hit back to force a tie-break that he won comfortably. From then on his opponent faded badly, despite entertaining the crowd - which included Monfils' compatriot Thierry Henry - with some ambitious strokes.

"The first set was one of the turning points in the match," Djokovic said. "He (Monfils) had a break but I managed to come back. I was really focused when I needed to be.

"I'm just so happy to go through in straight sets in these conditions, I think these are the worst conditions of the tournament so far.

"I've got two days' rest so I will try to use them as best as I can to recover physically and get ready mentally for the next challenge. Whoever I play it's going to be a tough match."

Since having to fight back from two sets down against Davis Cup team-mate Viktor Troicki in the opening round, Djokovic has won 14 sets in a row.

The third seed will now go on to play Roger Federer, the man who has ended his bid for glory in New York in the past three years, including the final back in 2007.

Lost

Meanwhile Monfils admitted he was blown completely off course by the conditions as he suffered a fifth straight defeat at the hands of Djokovic.

"The key point was I think at 4-2 for me," the 17th seed said. "When he breaks back at that time, I played very safe and let the wind play with my ball. I start to push a lot and did not use the wind, with or against.

"I know when it's a little bit windy I get in trouble, but wind like this for me is very tough. I have a big swing, and as you can see, my adjustment is not that good sometimes. You have to make small steps, stuff like that. For me, it's like really hard to play with wind.

"I think I competed, but with that wind you can really find my weakness. I'm very physical and speedy, and now we need to be very focused on every shot. On this I know I have to improve a lot. So sometimes for me is very frustrating, so maybe you can say I did not compete.

"But for me I don't think I have the talent for playing in the wind yet. At this stage you just think like 'How I am gonna do to win one game even?', because I was completely lost. Can't serve, can't really use my forehand. You run for what?"