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Djokovic cruises into Geneva semis
© afp.com/Fabrice COFFRINI

Djokovic cruises into Geneva semis

Published by , Thursday 05/23/24 19:27

Novak Djokovic on Thursday booked his spot in the Geneva semi-finals, putting the world number one within two matches of his first trophy of 2024, days before his French Open title defence begins.

Djokovic saw off a first set challenge from Tallon Griekspoor to win 7-5, 6-1 in 77 minutes at the Parc des Eaux-Vives.

Griekspoor, the world number 27, was the sixth seed at the 28-man Geneva tournament, which serves as a warm-up before next week's second Grand Slam of the season in Paris.

The Dutchman had three set points against Djokovic in the first set.

"It was a great win. I thought the first set could have gone his way easily because I think he was a better player for most of the first set," Djokovic said afterwards.

"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, really played some good, solid tennis."

It was a bridge too far for Griekspoor, who earlier Thursday finished off his second-round match with Denis Shapovalov, beating the Canadian 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.

The match had been called off for the night in the second set on Wednesday due to rain.

Djokovic, who turned 37 on Wednesday, took a wild card to play in Geneva in a bid to rescue an alarming dip in form ahead of Roland-Garros next week.

Djokovic will face Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic in Friday's semi-finals.

The pair have only met once before, with Djokovic winning their contest in Dubai last year.

Machac, the world number 44, will be appearing in his first semi-final on the ATP tour.

He saw off 19-year-old Alex Michelsen of the United States 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) in their quarter-final on the Geneva clay.

- Ruud rising -

Friday's second semi-final will see Norwegian second seed Casper Ruud face Italy's in-form Flavio Cobolli.

Ruud, the world number seven, was the runner-up in the last two French Open finals, including a defeat to Djokovic last year.

Ruud, at home on the Geneva clay having won the title in 2021 and 2022, beat Argentinian fifth seed Sebastian Baez in a roller-coaster match, winning 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in a two-hour quarter-final on Thursday.

"It was a tough match against Sebastian. He's a great player, a great fighter and it was always going to be difficult against him," Ruud said.

"It was a very close match in the end, back and forth, back and forth. But I'm very happy to be through, back in the semi-finals here in Geneva, it's a great feeling."

Italian Cobolli, on a career-high ranking of 56, saw off Kazakhstan's Alexander Shevchenko 6-4, 6-4 in the last eight, having knocked out US fourth seed Ben Shelton in the second round.

Source: AFP

Latest comments comments
Everyone will have there GOAT. Mine will always be Nadal. So glad I had the opportunity to watch him for almost his entire career
sdholly5 sdholly5 il y a 58 minutes
Someone needs reading lessons
bigman27 bigman27 il y a 7 heures
Congratulation Emma I want you back to top 10 I always love you
Magdywhitecat Magdywhitecat il y a 10 heures
OK ... if they do the same for all other sports.
SH321 SH321 il y a 11 heures
I had a small miniscus tear operated on and was allowed back in the gym and rnning 4 days later so long as I promised to take anti inflammatories and ice heavily afterwards. Back to playing basketball and tennis in two weeks. So it depends on the nature of the injury and surgery.
SH321 SH321 il y a 11 heures
It's the most wonderful tiiiime of the yeaaaar....
cyberpixie cyberpixie il y a 1 jour
Top des commentaires comments
Nicely played Thiago 👏👌
1 thumb_up
Aladdin Sane Aladdin Sane
LET'S FUCKING GO EMIL! WELCOME BACK TO THE THRONE!! And don't listen to Aladdin..
1 thumb_up
Ossian S. Ossian S.
The person who write this article is completely incorrect, or simply ignorant to write the statement "Jannik Sinner is all about himself". Is the writer for real? Jannik is the most decent, humble and
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Bobo Bobo
Congrats & well played Paul 🇬🇧👏👌
1 thumb_up
Aladdin Sane Aladdin Sane
Oh nooo. What happened? Such a shame after his amazing tournament last year
1 thumb_up
Belinda S. Belinda S.