Djokovic levels comeback to succeed in semi-finals at French Open
The third seed seemed like he could possibly be in bother when he was pushed to a second-set tie-break after dropping the opener, however he received seven straight factors and pulled away to win 4-6 7-6 (0) 6-2 6-4.
Djokovic mentioned: “He was the better player for most of the first two sets. I was struggling to find my rhythm. I came into the match a bit sluggish, but I played a perfect tie-break and then played a couple of levels higher.
“It’s a giant battle, it’s one thing that you just anticipate, quarter-finals of a grand slam. You’re not going to have your victories handed over to you. I’m completely satisfied to beat this large problem.”
Djokovic struggled to deal with the power game of Russian Khachanov in the opening set and made some unexpected errors as he dropped serve in the fifth game.
Khachanov, who made the semi-finals at both the US Open and Australian Open, had another chance to break in the ninth game and, although Djokovic managed to hold this time, his opponent comfortably served out the set.
The momentum slowly began to switch in the second set as Djokovic, who was engaging in repeated dialogue with his support camp, began to apply some pressure to the Khachanov serve.
He did not manage to break but, not for the first time this fortnight, played a flawless tie-break and then benefited from a lucky netcord to win a long opening game of the third set on the Khachanov serve.
The solely blip after that got here with a unfastened recreation that noticed him lose his break benefit at 4-3 within the fourth set, however Djokovic regained it right away and served out the victory.
The Serbian is thru to his forty fifth slam semi-final, one behind Roger Federer and 7 adrift of Chris Evert’s all-time report, and now solely two victories away from a report twenty third slam title.