In the Australian Open semi-finals, World No. 1 Novak Djokovic lost just four games across three sets against Frenchman Lucas Pouille in just 83 minutes. It was clear from just minutes into their Western & Southern Open quarter-final Friday evening that this would be a much closer match. But still, the result remained the same.

Defending champion Djokovic defeated Pouille 7-6(2), 6-1 in one hour and 26 minutes to reach the semi-finals in Cincinnati. The Serbian has made at least the last four in five consecutive tournaments he has played, and the top seed is into the semi-finals at this ATP Masters 1000 event for the seventh time.

“I thought he played really well throughout the first set. We both held our service games quite comfortably until the tie-break and then I just stayed in there, very focussed, didn’t drop my level. He did,” Djokovic said. “[He] double faulted and missed a couple of forehands and obviously that cost him the tie-break.”

Djokovic is now 63-14 in quarter-finals at this level, and he is two victories away from lifting his 34th Masters 1000 trophy, which would move him to within one crown of Rafael Nadal’s record 35. A year ago, Djokovic completed his Career Golden Masters in Cincinnati.

Pouille was sharp from the baseline from the early moments of this match, showing no fear of going after his shots, even with Djokovic’s relentless defence. But even though he saved the only break point he faced to get to a tie-break in the first set, Pouille was unable to sustain all parts of his game

The Frenchman played a loose tie-break, making mistakes he had not throughout the majority of the set. Pouille was then broken in his first service game of the second set. And although he earned three break points to get back on serve in the next game, Djokovic held his serve and never looked back. 

“The beginning of the second set I knew it was very important to try to break his serve right away and get into an advantage, which I did,” Djokovic said. “I managed to finish off the match really well.”

The key was Pouille’s declining first-serve percentage during the match, falling from 68 per cent in the opener to 43 per cent in the second set. That made playing aggressively from the baseline more and more difficult, as Djokovic pressured the World No. 31 immediately.

Djokovic will next face red-hot Russian Daniil Medvedev, who will try to make his second Masters 1000 final in as many weeks. The World No. 1 leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 3-1, but Medvedev won their most recent meeting at this year’s Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

Did You Know?
Djokovic is pushing to retake the lead in the ATP Race To London. Nadal seized the top spot on Monday after winning the Coupe Rogers. But if Djokovic advances to Sunday’s final, he will regain the advantage in the battle for the year-end No. 1 ATP Ranking.

Former World No. 1 Andy Murray accepted a wild card into the singles draw at the Winston-Salem Open. But the 45-time tour-level titlist will have his work cut out for him if he is going to lift his first ATP Tour singles trophy since 2017 Dubai.

The Scot will open against reigning Auckland titlist and 2018 Australian Open quarter-finalist Tennys Sandgren in Murray’s second singles match since undergoing hip resurfacing surgery after the Australian Open. The 32-year-old lost against Richard Gasquet in straight sets in his return to the discipline this week at the Western & Southern Open.

If Murray advanced, he will likely face a series of #NextGenATP challenges. His second-round opponent would be 20-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who is the second seed. It would be their first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting.

Also in their section is in-form #NextGenATP Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, the No. 13 seed. Kecmanovic beat Felix Auger-Aliassime and reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev in Cincinnati. The Antalya finalist could play fellow #NextGenATP star Alexei Popyrin of Australia in the second round.

Besides Murray, there is another former Top 5 player in the field: former World No. 4 Tomas Berdych, who received a wild card. The Czech, a 13-time ATP Tour champion, will be competing for just the second time since the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells in March.

Frenchman Benoit Paire is the top seed at this ATP 250 tournament, where he will try to win his third ATP Tour title of the season. The 30-year-old will play Indian Prajnesh Gunneswaran or German Cedrik-Marcel Stebe in the second round.

The only former champion in the singles draw is Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, who won the title in 2016. He is in Paire’s quarter of the draw and will play Romanian Marius Copil or Slovak Martin Klizan in his second-round match.

Did You Know?
Five of the Top 8 players in the ATP Race To Milan are seeded in Winston-Salem.

Qualifier Andrey Rublev put together an impressive run at the Western & Southern Open, defeating the man who beat him in last month’s Hamburg final (Nikoloz Basilashvili), a former World No. 3 (Stan Wawrinka) and a seven-time Cincinnati champion (Roger Federer). But on Friday evening, the two-time Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier ran into a wall. A Daniil Medvedev wall, that is.

The red-hot Medvedev ousted his compatriot 6-2, 6-3 after 61 minutes to reach his second ATP Masters 1000 semi-final in as many weeks after reaching his first championship match at this level at the Coupe Rogers in Montreal. Medvedev, playing at a career-high No. 8 in the ATP Rankings in Ohio, is projected to climb to at least No. 7 on Monday pending his results the rest of the tournament.

“I played great. I think I managed to [pressure him] straight away as [I have] every match I played here. In both sets I was breaking him early, giving me a lot of confidence,” Medvedev said. “I was not serving that good today, but in the crucial moments I was able to do it and that was the most important.””

Medvedev, who is now a perfect 3-0 in Masters 1000 quarter-finals, has not lost a set en route to the last four. This time last season, Medvedev was the World No. 56, and he lost in the first round of the main draw in Cincinnati after having to go through qualifying.

Medvedev will face defending champion and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic on Saturday for a spot in the final. If the Russian advances, he will battle for a trophy for the third consecutive week after falling just short in Washington, D.C. and Montreal.

“Novak is Novak,” Medvedev said. “There is actually nothing to say about him. Just huge respect.”

In stunning Federer on Thursday, Rublev played lights-out tennis to earn his second consecutive victory when facing a Top 5 opponent (Thiem in Hamburg). But he struggled on serve against his countryman, losing serve four times.

Rublev was not able to find the level he did earlier in the tournament, but Medvedev also acted like a backboard, allowing his 21-year-old opponent to make the mistakes he did. The 2017 Umag champion won just 65 per cent of his first-serve points, and was unable to elicit many short balls to get in a rhythm with his offence.

Medvedev was strong on serve himself, striking nine aces and facing only one break point in the match. Although the ninth seed did give up a break with a 4-0 lead in the first set, he was already up two breaks, so it did not have a major impact on the match.

The four-time ATP Tour titlist has now played 14 singles matches in less than three weeks. But what has helped is that all 12 of his wins have come in straight sets, as have his two losses during this stretch.

“I’m getting a little bit tired, of course, step by step with all the matches. [It] helps that I win in straight sets, or [that I am] losing in straight sets also,” Medvedev said. “Otherwise, I think one match 7-6 in the third could be tough for me. But so far, I [am] feeling great, feeling good about my tennis.”

Did You Know?
Medvedev is currently placed sixth in the ATP Race To London as he tries to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time (Buy Tickets). View Standings

The older sibling prevailed once again in an all-Murray doubles showdown. Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski reached the doubles semi-finals on Friday at the Western & Southern Open by defeating Feliciano Lopez and Andy Murray 6-7(5), 7-5, 10-4.

Jamie has won both times he’s faced his younger brother in ATP Tour doubles action. He and John Peers defeated Andy and Leander Paes in the 2015 Coupe Rogers.

“We’re happy to win today. It’s always a difficult situation, probably more so for him than me,” said Jamie. “I think we both did a good job and it was a pretty good level. It was packed for most of the match, so it was good fun.”

Murray/Skupski served to stay in the match at 4-5 in the second set, then broke in the next game and cruised the rest of the way to advance in one hour and 46 minutes. This is the first ATP Tour doubles semi-final the British pair have reached as a team since joining forces this June in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

Murray/Skupski will now face Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek, who upset second seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo 3-6, 6-4, 10-5. Dodig/Polasek are 10-3 since joining forces in June, advancing to the semi-finals at Wimbledon and finishing runner-up in Antalya (l. to Erlich/Sitak).

See where to watch the Western & Southern Open

Top seeds and Wimbledon champions Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah needed only 67 minutes to dispatch seventh seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers 6-4, 6-2. Cabal/Farah’s second-round win on Thursday made them the first team to qualify for this year’s Nitto ATP Finals, held at the O2 in London from 10-17 November.

Awaiting Cabal/Farah in the semi-finals will be sixth seeds Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares, who ousted third seeds Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus 6-1, 6-3 in 53 minutes. The Croatian-Brazilian team lost just two first-serve points and did not face a break point.

Richard Gasquet played with great intensity on Friday afternoon to reaching his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final in more than six years.

The former World No. 7 knocked out Spanish No. 11 seed Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-2 in two hours and 13 minutes at the Western & Southern Open.

Gasquet will next challenge David Goffin, the No. 15 seed from Belgium, who advanced to the semi-finals when his Japanese opponent, Yoshihito Nishioka, withdrew ahead of their match because of illness. Gasquet and Goffin are level at 1-1 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

“I didn’t play for six months, so it’s great to be back here and reaching the semi-finals aged 33,” Gasquet told ESPN on-court. “Goffin is a tough guy, one of the fastest from the baseline, so I will be prepared to battle and to fight. I’ll be ready for it.”

Lucas Pouille has experienced incredible highs and difficult lows this season, but the Frenchman is on another upward swing by reaching the quarter-finals at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

His three-set win over Karen Khachanov on Thursday marked his first Top 10 win in nearly three years. The Frenchman’s serve and backhand became more potent as the match wore on, enabling him to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final since the 2017 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

“I haven’t played very well in a Masters 1000 for awhile,” said Pouille. “I’m happy to have the chance to play Novak. I’m feeling very well, trying to focus on my game and going step by step.”

See where to watch the Western & Southern Open 

Pouille’s year started out with his first Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open, but wins have been rare since then. He arrived in Cincinnati with a 7-13 record since his magical run in Melbourne and just one other ATP Tour quarter-final to his name.

But even during his rough stretch, Pouille still recorded high-profile wins over Daniil Medvedev and Borna Coric. He credited his coach, former WTA World No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo, with helping him through challenging weeks and maintaining belief that his flashy game would click for multiple matches in a row again.

“She has the experience and knows how to deal with it,’ he explained. “It’s never easy when you lose some matches in a row, but you just have to keep working hard and keep believing, keep going on the court being sure that one day it will pay off. Even if I lose tomorrow or win tomorrow, you have to go back and practise the next day. Hard work always pays off.”

The hard work is indeed paying off for Pouille, who now faces top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic. When they met this year in the Australian Open semi-finals, Pouille only managed four games. But when they step on Stadium Court, the memories of Melbourne will be erased and Pouille will have belief that he can pull off the upset.

“My part of the draw is not open,” said Pouille, cracking a smile. “But everyone has their chances, I’m just trying to focus on my performance.”

Well-known veterans and the game’s youth both will be looking to book semi-final appearances on Friday at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka will try to keep his dream run going when he faces 16^th seed David Goffin of Belgium. Nishioka upset countryman and World No. 5 Kei Nishikori to make the third round, and then took care of #NextGenATP Aussie Alex de Minaur to make the quarter-finals.

Goffin is trying to make back-to-back Cincinnati semi-finals. He retired in the second set of his 2018 semi-final against Roger Federer.

In the first men’s match of the day, Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut takes on Frenchman Richard Gasquet. The Spaniard, who reached his first Grand Slam semi-final at Wimbledon, is looking to reach his third ATP Masters 1000 semi-final and first since the 2016 Rolex Shanghai Masters.

All but one of the top eight seeds didn’t reach the last eight in Cincinnati, but top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic remains. The World No. 1, who became the first player to win the Career Golden Masters last year in Cincinnati, takes on France’s Lucas Pouille in a rematch of their Australian Open semi-final, which Djokovic won in straight sets en route to the title.

Russian Andrey Rublev hardly looked nervous serving for the match on Thursday against Federer, the World No. 3 and seven-time Cincinnati champion. The 21-year-old, who twice competed at the Next Gen ATP Finals, will attempt to bring that same calmness against countryman and World No. 8 Daniil Medvedev, the top-ranked Russian.

Medvedev, however, has been having the stretch of his career. The 23-year-old, who played at the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in 2017, made the Citi Open final (l. to Kyrgios) and the Coupe Rogers title match (l. to Nadal) last week. This will be the Russians’ first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting.