CINCINNATI: Novak Djokovic played his best match. Serena Williams? Well, she needed to pull a Serena to move on.

Taking different approaches, the top seeds at the ATP and WTA Western & Southern Open reached the semi-finals on Friday, moving a step closer to a title that’s been tough for either of them to win.

Djokovic beat fifth-seeded Stan Wawri­nka 6-4, 6-1 with little difficulty in just over an hour to avenge his defeat to the Swiss in the French Open final.

Wawrinka denied the Serb a chance to complete a career grand slam in Paris but was wayward in Cincinnati, finishing with 33 unforced errors and pushing a backhand wide on match point.

“It was the best performance I had so far this week. It came at the right time against one of my biggest rivals and the guy I lost to last time we played in the finals of French Open,” said Djokovic.

Serena followed on centre court, struggled with her serve, and had to rally to beat Ana Ivanovic 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

The American, who will be chasing a calendar sweep of the four Grand Slams at the Aug 31-Sept 13 US Open, struggled with her serve and was forced to come from behind several times in a rematch of last year’s final which she won.

“It’s like when you’re down and maybe down a break in a set and a set, and you pull a Serena is when you come back and win,” she said.

Djokovic has never won at Cincinnati, the only one of the nine ATP Masters events that has eluded him. He’s trying to become the first to win all nine.

The world number one next faces Ukrainian qualifier Alexandr Dolgopolov who upset Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-2. The Serb owns a 4-0 record in that series, most recently winning in Miami five months ago.

Britain’s third seed Andy Murray reached the semi-finals by beating Frenchman Richard Gasquet 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, his second straight three-set match.

He’ll face second seed Roger Federer, who eased through a 6-3, 6-4 win over Spain’s Feliciano Lopez in only 61 minutes and is trying for his unprecedented seventh Cincinnati title.

Serena won the tournament for the first time on her sixth try last year, beating Ivanovic in the final.

This one was ragged. Serena got only 46 percent of her first serves in play and had 36 unforced errors. After dropping the first set, she fell behind 3-4 in the second set but then turned it around, breaking Ivanovic’s serve five times while pulling away.

Her next opponent will be Ukrainian 14th seed Elina Svitolina, who upset Roland Garros finalist Lucie Safarova 6-4, 2-6, 6-0.

Third-seeded Romanian Simona Halep dispatched Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6 (7-3),6-2 and will now face a semi-final against Serbian Jelena Jankovic who beat Slovakian qualifier Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-4, 6-2.

Halep and Jankovic last squared off in the BNP Paribas Open final in March when Halep prevailed in a three-set battle.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2015

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