Serbia’s Novak Djokovic hits a return against Canada’s Milos Raonic during their men’s singles match on day ten of the 2015 Australian Open in Melbourne.

AFP/Melbourne

Serb world number one Novak Djokovic dominated Canada’s Milos Raonic in straight sets to claim his fifth Australian Open semi-final yesterday.
The top seed was in dazzling form in dishing out a 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 6-2 hammering of the world number eight in two hours and will face defending champion Stan Wawrinka for a place in Sunday’s final.
Swiss fourth seed Wawrinka upset Djokovic in last year’s quarter-finals on the way to winning the Australian Open for his first major title.
This year Djokovic looks the player to beat and was in outstanding touch on Rod Laver Arena, hitting 33 winners and just 17 unforced errors, with three service breaks and winning 89 percent of his first serves.
It will be his 25th Grand Slam semi-final tomorrow.
Raonic, one of the biggest servers in men’s tennis, could not get one break point on Djokovic’s serve, with the Serb now dropping only one service game in the tournament.
“I take a lot of confidence and I try to carry that in every match. Stan and I played five-set matches in the last two Australian Opens,” Djokovic said.

‘READY FOR A FIGHT’
“I’m going to be ready for a fight. But knowing that I have raised the level of performance tonight, and probably playing the best match of the tournament so far is affecting my confidence in a positive way.
“Hopefully I can carry that into next one. I served very well and overall it was a great match against one of the up and coming rising stars.”  
Djokovic said he felt supremely confident about his game heading into the business end of the tournament.
“Tonight there was not much I could complain about. From the first game till the last I played the way I wanted. I created a lot of break point opportunities,” he said.
“The key of tonight’s match was to get as many balls back in play. I executed very, very well. It’s easier said than done, but I feel very good about my game in this moment.”
Raonic has yet to beat the world number one in five encounters and went into the match with the most aces in the tournament, but could only manage 15, well down on the 25 he had been averaging in his earlier four matches.
Djokovic, who is chasing a fifth Australian title and eighth Grand Slam, had few problems with the big-serving Canadian and had break points in two service games before he claimed the opening set in a tiebreaker in 56 minutes.
Raonic could not lay a glove on the world number one, who pounced with a service break in the opening game of the second set.
The top seed cracked Raonic’s serve twice in the final set to cruise to the finish line.
“He just didn’t allow me to organise my game. Even when he was returning well, by the end of the match he was doing a good job of playing deep and never allowing me to go forward,” Raonic said.
“He was pretty much on the baseline the whole time and I was further back.”

Djokovic says ready for another epic with Wawrinka
After booking a much-anticipated semi-final with his Australian Open title usurper Stan Wawrinka yesterday, Novak Djokovic wasted little time reminding the Swiss of the heavy burden of being defending champion.
Djokovic’s three-year reign at Melbourne Park was ended by the Swiss last January in an epic five-set quarter-final, which followed a year after fending off Wawrinka in another nerve-jangling marathon in the fourth round.
Djokovic praised Wawrinka’s impressive win over Nishikori, having watched it closely, but was also glowing about his own form ahead of the showdown with the player who ended his run of 14 consecutive grand slam semi-finals in Melbourne last year.
“He played a great match,” Djokovic said of Wawrinka’s win.
“Kei has been playing his best tennis in the last 12 months. To be able to win straight sets against him is pretty impressive.
“Being the defending champion, obviously he’s got some of the pressure here. He is facing this kind of role for the first time in his life.”
Already in scintillating form, Djokovic raised his level again in routing Raonic, who was supposed to offer the first real test for the Serb.
He cancelled out the Canadian’s formidable serve with a clinical returning game, breaking him three times while not giving up a single break point from his own racquet.
The four-times champion has not lost a set during the tournament and has only been broken once.
Djokovic, an enthusiastic reviewer of his past matches, said he would go through the video of last year’s match but would avoid watching the agonising last point when he hit a most un-Novak-like volley into the tramlines to concede the match.
“Everything else is fine,” he said.
“Again, of course you need to do a video analysis.
“You need to get yourself in the right state of mind for the matches like this, because this is now semi-finals of a grand slam and you’re playing a top player.
“There is no going back now. It’s the time to perform the best you can.”

Results
Collared results from day 10 of the Australian Open yesterday:

Men’s singles
Quarter-finals
Stan Wawrinka (SUI x4) bt Kei Nishikori (JPN x5) 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (8/6)
Novak Djokovic (SRB x1) bt Milos Raonic (CAN x8) 706 (7/5), 6-4, 6-2
 
Women’s singles
Quarter-finals
Madison Keys (USA) bt Venus Williams (USA x18) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4  
Serena Williams (USA x1) bt Dominika Cibulkova (SVK x11) 6-2, 6-2  
 
Women’s doubles
Semi-finals
Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/Lucie Safarova (CZE) bt Julia Goerges/Anna-Lena Groenfeld (GER x16) 6-0, retired
Chan Yung-Jan (TPE)/Zheng Jie (CHN x14) bt Michaella Krajicek (NED)/Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE x13) 6-3, 6-2

Men’s doubles
Quarter-finals
Jean-Julien Rojer (NED)/Horia Tecau (ROU x6) bt Dominic Inglot (GBR)/Florin Mergea (ROU x14) 6-4, 7-6 (7/3)
Simone Bolelli/Fabio Fognini (ITA) bt Pablo Cuevas (URU)/David Marrero (ESP) 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5)