Novak Djokovic storms into the Wimbledon final
Wimbledon 2022 Semi-final
British Cameron Norrie (26) was defeated by top seed Novak Djokovic (35), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, who fought back to reach the Wimbledon men’s singles final. Norrie was bidding to become only the fourth Briton to reach the final at the All England Clun in the Open era.
Serbia’s Djokovic going for a fourth consecutive title and a seventh overall will face Australia’s Nick Kyrgios in Sunday’s final.
Spain’s Rafael Nadal was supposed to face Kyrgios in Friday’s second semi-final but withdrew from the match on Thursday after an abdominal injury.
Djokovic has a chance to close the gap again on his enduring rival after ending the hopes of Norrie the ninth seed.
Norrie broke three times to take the opening set before Djokovic found his class. Norrie however received a rapturous round of applause as he left the centre court, including Djokovic who stood back and applauded his exit.
Djokovic said “ Cameron was dominating the play and I got lucky to break his serve in the second set. He’s a great player and I have a lot of respect for him. He gifted me the game and then I think the momentum shifted”.
Norrie was unable to maintain his fast start against Djokovic, as the left-hander had never gone past the third round at a Grand Slam before.
Two more errors from Djokovic smacking two forehands from the baseline enabled Norrie to break again and move 3-2 ahead. Then Norrie held the serve to consolidate the break, more errors from Djokovic’s racquet culminating in a forehand into the net. Another break for 5-2 left Norrie serving for the set and after two double faults including one on set point, he hammered down an ace to seal the first set.
Then Djokovic the defending champion decided to improve his level. He returned with a cap for the start of the second set, served better, and only dropped one point in his first four service games. As more pressure began to build on Norrie’s serve which created more mistakes from the Briton, particularly on his forehand. Djokovic finally took his fourth break point of the set for a 5-3 lead when Norrie hit a forehand long, having done the damage by missing a volley that he would expect to put away for 15-30. Norrie started the third set by winning a point which left Djokovic clapping his strings but the game quickly changed as Djokovic took a third break point to move ahead in the match for the first time. Weary Norrie battled hard but Djokovic was relentless after winning seven of the next nine games, it looked unlikely Norrie would be able to fight back to win. He served out himself to put himself into an eighth Wimbledon men’s final and his 32nd Grand Slam final overall one clear of Federer as a men’s record. But Wimbledon tally was only bettered by Roger Federer’s 12 appearances there,
In the Women’s singles third-seeded Tunisian Ons Jabeur meets Elena Rybakina although born in Russia representing Kazakhstan in the Women’s final.