London, July 9: Novak Djokovic continued his dominating show at the Centre Court here as he stormed into his third consecutive and seventh overall Wimbledon final by defeating Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 7-5 in two hours and 44 minutes to book his place in the final against Matteo Berrettini here on Friday (July 9).
The Serbian tennis legend made it to his 30th grand slam final and will now be chasing his 20th grand slam title on Sunday (July 11). It was a ruthless show from the world number one as he rescued 10 breakpoints in the match to assert his authority once again on Centre Court. Djoker has now won 18 sets without reply since dropping the opening one back on Day 1.
Playing in his debut grand slam semi-final, the No.10 seed played some fearless game against the defending champion, playing his 41st. 22-year-old Shapovalov started pretty well but made 35 unforced errors which cost him badly, as he won just one of 11 breakpoints. He left the court and impressively relocated his early form on his return, pushing Djokovic to save three break points in the fourth game and whipping up a crowd keen to see a contest.
Two more followed as the Serb escaped to 3-3, meaning there was a sense of nagging inevitability when, on Djokovic's first break point of set two, Shapovalov produced another appallingly timed double fault.
Djokovic closed out the two-set lead before saving three break points in his first service game of the third, reprising the other theme of frustration for Shapovalov.
From then on, it was a case of gamely scrambling to stay in the contest, with Djokovic's gaze fixed on the finish line. At 5-5, Shapovalov undermined himself with two more doubles and, despite battling to deuce, crunched a groundstroke long.
The all-time great on the other side of the net let out a guttural roar before sealing his toughest win of the tournament in straight sets.
After winning the match, the world number one lauded his opponent in the semi-final for giving him a tough competition. The Serbian admitted that the scoreline didn't say much about the game and even congratulated the Canadian for his resilient show.
"I don't think the scoreline says enough about the performance and the match, he was serving for the first set, he was probably a better player for most of the second set, had many chances, I would like to give him a big round of applause for everything he has done today and these few weeks. This has been his first semi-final at a Grand Slam and you could see he was emotional and we're going to see a lot of him in the future definitely. He's a great player," said Djoker.
"Playing, I've said this so many times before, the most special tournament in the world on this court and there is no holding back, once you step out on the court, particularly at the later stages," added Djokovic.
"The dream keeps going, that's all I can say. I'm trying to take out the maximum of my own abilities every single match and see what happens. Giving up is never an option."
The defending champion also stressed that at this point in his career winning grand slams is all that matters to him. "Particularly at this stage of my career, Grand Slams are everything, they're the four events that count the most in our sport and I've been very privileged to make history in the sport I truly love. It fills my heart every time I hear there is something on the line, it inspires and motivates me but at the same time, I have to balance it with being present and in the moment and win only the next match. For me, only one match exists in a few days and I'm going to try and not think about the 30th Grand Slam final," he signed off.
Earlier in the day, Italy's Matteo Berrettini defeated Hubert Hurkacz 6-3 6-0 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 and became the first player from his country to enter the Wimbledon singles final.
Data Slam: Two out of three wouldn't be bad for Novak
If he is able to beat Berrettini for his sixth Wimbledon and 20th slam, Djokovic will have won two thirds of 30 career grand slam finals. Only Federer (31) has appeared in more showpieces, with Nadal on 28.
WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS
Djokovic - 33/15 Shapovalov - 40/36
ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS
Djokovic - 8/5 Shapovalov - 5/6
BREAK POINTS WON
Djokovic - 3/10 Shapovalov - 1/11
(With inputs from agencies)