Novak Djokovic booked place in Geneva Open semi-finals, saving four set points in opener before taking control against Netherlands' Tallon Griekspoor to win 7-5 6-1; You can watch Djokovic in Geneva this week, exclusively live on Sky Sports Tennis
Thursday 23 May 2024 19:01, UK
Novak Djokovic progressed to the Geneva Open semi-finals on Thursday, beating Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 7-5 6-1.
A tight first set proved far from easy for the Serbian, however, as he had to save four Griekspoor set points at 5-4 down, eventually recovering to win 7-5.
Indeed, Griekspoor, ranked 27, had three set points in a row from 0-40 on the Djokovic serve, but could not take any of them.
Djokovic won nine of the next 10 games in the clash to book his place in the ATP 250 event's semi-finals, winning the second set in dominant fashion 6-1.
Djokovic will face the Czech Republic's Tomas Machac in the semi-finals on Friday, seeking his first final of the season.
"Great win," said the 37-year-old. "I thought in the first set it could have gone his way easily because I think he was the better player. We could have been having a completely different direction of the match if he converted those set points.
"I was lucky to find some really good serves and from that moment onwards I really played some good, solid tennis. He did help me a bit with mistakes, but I think the second set was really good."
Djokovic was a surprise entry into the event following his shock early exit at the Italian Open earlier this month to Chile's Alejandro Tabilo, two days after being accidentally struck on the head by a bottle.
After the world No 1 underwent tests, he requested a wildcard into the tournament in Switzerland, starting his campaign with a win.
No 2 seed Casper Ruud, a clay-court specialist, needed three sets before beating Argentina's Sebastian Baez 6-3 3-6 6-4. Ruud converted four of five break-point opportunities and benefitted from No 5 Baez's 21 unforced errors.
Ruud will meet Italian Flavio Cobolli in the semi-finals.
Americans Danielle Collins and Madison Keys are through to the semi-finals of the Internationaux de Strasbourg after matching 6-1 6-3 victories on Thursday in France.
Collins, the No 3 seed, eased past France's Clara Burel in 63 minutes by winning a tidy 22 of her 29 first-service points (75.9 percent).
Keys, the fourth seed, defeated Magda Linette of Poland in 69 minutes, saving the only break point she faced while winning four of eight return games.
The other quarter-final match saw No 5 seed Liudmila Samsonova of Russia take down No 2 Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil 6-3 6-0. Samsonova will face Keys in the semis.
The last quarterfinal is slated for Friday morning and will pit Czech No 1 seed Marketa Vondrousova against Ukraine's Anhelina Kalinina. The winner will advance to play Collins.
In the run-up to the second Grand Slam of 2024 - the French Open at Roland Garros from May 26 - you can watch all of the biggest tennis stars in action live on Sky Sports as they compete across the clay-court season.
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