Novak Djokovic Roars into Semifinals during W&S Open Day 5

The Western and Southern Open has reached the tail end of the tournament, with only 2 more matches before the finals. Djokovic, Tsisitpas, Agut, and Raonic are the last 4 players to remain. Let’s breakdown the top match of the day and predictions for the rest of the tournament.

Tennis can’t get anymore clinical than Novak Djokovic, who dismantled Struff like a surgeon today, winning 6-3, 6-1. It took Djokovic just over an hour to win the match. Djokovic wasn’t even playing his best tennis, as he did have a 5:3 ace to double fault ratio and a 33% success rate on first-serve return points, but still managed to play very efficiently.

He won 73% of his first serve points and 60% of his second serve points. He also broke Struff 5 times during the match, demonstrating his return prowess.

This will be Djokovic’s 8th Western and Southern Open Semifinal, as he hopes to reach his 7th final at this tournament. His win rate at the W&S Open is actually quite low, as he only has 1 title at this tournament in his entire career. He looks to win his second title here at the W&S Open, which will have some serious historical implications.

If he is able to win the final here, he will have 35 Masters wins, tying the all-time record currently held by Rafael Nadal. This could add some serious weight to the GOAT conversation, as both Djokovic and Nadal are still in their early 30’s compared to Roger Federer, who is now 39. At the pace Djokovic is going at, he could possibly retire with the most Masters, if not the most Grand Slams.

In other matches today, Daniil Medvedev was “upset” by 8 seed Roberto Bautista Agut in a hard-fought 3 set match. Reilly Opelka was sadly forced to retire in the first set against Stefanos Tsitsipas with a right knee injury, and Milos Raonic beat Filip Krajinovic in 3 sets as well.

Day 5 Results 

[8] R Bautista Agut def [3] D Medvedev 1-6, 6-4, 6-3

[1] N Djokovic def J Struff 6-3, 6-1

[4] S Tsitsipas def R Opelka 5-6(Ret)

M Raonic def F Krajnovic 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-5

Day 6 Schedule  

3 PM

[1] N Djokovic vs [8] R Bautista Agut

5 PM

[4] S Tsitsipas vs M Raonic