World number one Novak Djokovic is eyeing to capture the clay as he stormed in the semi-finals of the French Open after defeating world number five Alexander Zverev on Thursday for the ninth time.
Djokovic won the match with a scoreline of 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 in two hours and nine minutes.
The 32-year-old Serbian star will face world number four Dominic Thiem in the semi-final on Friday.
Calm, cool, collected.
This is the moment @DjokerNole became a Roland-Garros semi-finalist for the ninth time. #RG19 pic.twitter.com/hrMWwnhJFn
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 6, 2019
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The 2016 champion will now look to extend his 6-2 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Dominic Thiem, last year’s Roland Garros finalist and fourth seed, on Friday afternoon.
The 32-year-old Djokovic leads 3-2 in clay-court clashes, including a 7-6(2), 7-6(4) victory over Thiem in last month’s Mutua Madrid Open semi-finals. The pair has split two previous Roland Garros meetings in 2016 (Djokovic) and 2017 (Thiem).
“Dominic is deservedly where he is, one of the top four guys, especially on clay,” said Djokovic. “That’s where he’s playing his best tennis. He’s got that tremendous power in his game, especially with [his] forehand and serve. I think his backhand has also improved a lot in the past couple of years.