Wimbledon 2015: Novak Djokovic advances to finals with win over Richard Gasquet

One half of the men’s finals at Wimbledon is set, as top seed Novak Djokovic bested No. 21 seed Richard Gasquet in straight sets on Friday, 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-4. Djokovic was favored coming into the match, as he’d only lost to Gasquet once in the 13 times they’ve played. Still, Gasquet was a game opponent for most of the match, taking the first set to a tiebreak and not giving up easy breaks for the majority of said match.

Djokovic now has an opportunity to win his third title at Wimbledon and his ninth Grand Slam overall. This will be his third final of 2015, having won this year’s Australian Open and lost in the more recent French Open at Roland Garros.

Gasquet fought extremely hard for the opening set, not giving any space for Djokovic to get out to a fast start. That first set wound up going to a tiebreak when both men refused to yield, but it was Djokovic who ultimately came out on top there, dominating the tiebreak, 7-6(2). In the second set, Djokovic got the early lead he was looking for, breaking Gasquet to go up a game.

Djokovic was up 2-0 in the second set when Gasquet held his serve and then threatened with a triple break point attempt. Unfortunately for Gasquet, Djokovic battled back to deuce and ultimately held his serve to go up 3-1 in the second set. Gasquet did fight back in that set and didn’t give anything away for free, but Djokovic was too on-point with his shots and Gasquet simply couldn’t keep up. Djokovic went up two sets.

The third set was more of the same, with Djokovic jumping out to an early lead with a break of Gasquet, and then playing well enough to stay ahead throughout that set. He came close to breaking Gasquet a second time in the final game, but Gasquet held and Djokovic served for victory.

Djokovic advances to the finals, where he’ll meet the winner of Friday’s match between No. 2 seed Roger Federer and No. 3 seed Andy Murray.