ATP World Tour No. 4 Novak Djokovic booked his place in the semi-finals of the Gerry Weber Open after a much more straightforward victory than his second-round win. The Serbian No. 2 seed, who saved five match points to defeat Florent Serra on Thursday, made light work of No. 7 seed Jurgen Melzer 6-1, 6-4 on Friday at the ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament in Halle.
Two breaks of serve in the fourth and sixth games sufficed to secure the opening set for Djokovic and he immediately capitalised on his momentum by breaking to lead 3-1 in the second set. The No. 28-ranked Melzer took advantage of a loose service game from Djokovic to break back and lead 4-3, but Djokovic quickly regrouped and hit back to win the final three games of the match and seal victory after 66 minutes.
The 22-year-old Djokovic has bounced back strongly from the surprise third-round defeat he suffered at Roland Garros at the hands of Philipp Kohlschreiber and is through to his ninth ATP World Tour semi-final or better of the season. The right-hander has clinched titles at Dubai (d. Ferrer) and at his inaugural home-town tournament in Belgrade (d. Kubot) and finished runner-up at three successive ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments.
Next up for Djokovic is Belgian qualifier Olivier Rochus, who continued his good run with a battling 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3 victory over German wild card Benjamin Becker. The diminutive Rochus withstood 17 aces from Becker to convert three of eight break point chances, while facing no break points himself, in the two-hour and four-minute match.
Playing in just his second ATP World Tour event of the season, the No. 136-ranked Rochus is through to his first semi-final at this level since September 2007 – when he reached his sixth ATP World Tour final at Mumbai (l. to Gasquet). The 28 year old passed the Halle quarter-finals for the first time in three attempts, having previously fallen at that stage in 2005 (l. to Safin) and 2006 (l. to Federer in 3rd set tie-break).
German No. 1 Philipp Kohlschreiber (pictured) took one step closer to reaching the final at the Gerry Weber Open for the second straight year after defeating compatriot Andreas Beck 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 Friday to reach the semi-finals at the ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament in Halle.
The 25 year old fired 17 aces and converted three of five break point chances, while saving eight of the nine threats on his own serve, to rally from a set down and clinch victory in the pair’s first meeting after one hour and 57 minutes.
"I am very relieved," confessed Kohlschreiber. "It didn’t look as if I was going to win during the first hour. I didn’t really find my rhythm. He just started hitting the balls, served very strongly, played fast balls from the baseline and gave me a hard time. If you are trying to find your way into the match and then start playing better and better, then, of course, the relief is even bigger."
Kohlschreiber, currently a career-high No. 24 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings, reached his third ATP World Tour final – and his second on German soil – in Halle last year, finishing runner-up to Roger Federer.
The right-hander is through to his first ATP World Tour semi-final since Vienna (d. Verdasco, l. to Monfils) in October 2008 and is bidding to win his first grass-court title. He is coming off a personal-best fourth-round showing at Roland Garros, where he beat World No. 4 Novak Djokovic before losing to No. 16 seed Tommy Robredo. He improved to a 24-11 mark on the season.
For a place in the final, Kohlschreiber will take on Tommy Haas – who knocked out fellow German wild card Mischa Zverev 7-6(5), 6-2. The 31-year-old Haas hit nine aces and capitalised on three of six break point chances he created to prevail after 75 minutes. Kohlschreiber won their one previous encounter in a third set tie-break in the second round at Halle last year.
Former World No. 2 Haas will contest the Halle semi-finals for the third time (also 2005-06) and will look to reach a final on home soil for the fourth time. His lone title in Germany came at Stuttgart in 2001 (d. Mirnyi).
(From Website : http://www.atpworldtour.com/TENNIS/1/EN/NEWS/NEWSARTICLE_3948.ASP)
