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Queens Club: Kyrgios and Djokovic reach Semi-Finals

By Keshav Gopalan

LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 22: Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a backhand during the quarter final match against Adrian Mannarino of France during Day five of the Fever-Tree Championships at Queens Club on June 22, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Patrik Lundin/Getty Images for LTA)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 22: Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a backhand during the quarter final match against Adrian Mannarino of France during Day five of the Fever-Tree Championships at Queens Club on June 22, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Patrik Lundin/Getty Images for LTA) /
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Former World Number 1 Novak Djokovic was in fine form today as he defeated Adrian Mannarino 7-5, 6-1 in just over an hour, while Nick Kyrgios dethroned defending champ Feliciano Lopez in over two tiebreaks at 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3). This was their second meeting in two weeks, having played in the same quarterfinal stage in Stuttgart a week ago.

Both Kyrgios and Djokovic now eye the victory table, displaying splendid form throughout the week. This is especially the case with Djokovic, who seems to be coming back to form slowly, but steadily.

Kyrgios, on the other hand, continues his good form from the start of the year, which was hampered due to a recurring and chronic elbow injury which forced him to withdraw from the French Open and restricted him to having played only 4 tournaments till June (5 if counting Davis Cup).

800 match wins for Novak

Djokovic reaches another milestone in his illustrious career: 800 match wins. The Serbian is only 29 matches away from reaching 1000 matches played. He joins Jimmy Connors, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Guillermo Vilas, Andre Agassi, Ille Nastase and Stefan Edberg in the 800+ club. Good company to be in.

Moving away from that, his match against Mannarino was an excellent example of his great Tennis IQ. Djokovic was a break down in the opening set when he did a 180 and switched tactics. Realising that being aggressive was not working, he traded pace in his shots with depth and targetted Mannarino’s backhand with a slew of slices. This shifted the momentum, allowing Novak to win 9 games out of 11 since the break of serve at 4-3.

Djokovic next faces Jeremy Chardy in the semifinals, who he leads 10-0 in the head to head.

Kyrgios faces Cilic

Nick is looking incredibly dangerous this grass season, despite having a few injury niggles of his own. He was seen clutching his hip and knee in his opener against Murray, but dismissed it as something minor in this interview, which seems to be the case with how he’s been playing.

Kyrgios next faces Cilic, who’s been in great form himself. The pair is split 1-1 in the head to head and will be meeting on grass for the first time.

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