Defending champion Novak Djokovic battled past Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, in a messy semifinal clash at the US Open to reach the final for the seventh time.
Although he looked nowhere near his best, Djokovic raced to a 5-0 lead in the opening set as Monfils looked in horrible form. After a short comeback attempt from the Frenchman, the opening set finally went the way of the defending champion. Another terrible set from Monfils and Djokovic took the second in under half an hour with the strange tactics of Monfils causing a lot of errors. There were signs of life from the world number twelve, however, in the third, and he came back from a break down to take the third set. The Frenchman was unable to keep up his momentum in the fourth and both men looked exhausted as Djokovic pushed through to reach his third Grand Slam final of the year.
Strange start
Monfils showed a couple of signs of attacking intent on the Djokovic serve in the opening game but he was unable to reign in his big hitting and the Serb held serve easily with early errors from both. The Frenchman gifted Djokovic an early break with a double fault and the world number one started cruising through games without really having to do much.
Djokovic raced to 5-0 in only 16 minutes as Monfils looked far too casual on the return. The Frenchman's soft-balling tactics were clear but his intensity and focus just weren't there and the set looked all but over very quickly as the unforced errors started to rack up. Monfils was serving to stay in the set and the world number one found himself with a set point for a bagel. Monfils erased it with an ace and on game point, chased down a volley and put it away with ease to finally get a game on the scoreboard to start a bizarre switch of momentum.
In an error-filled game, Monfils managed to scrape back one of the breaks with help of three double faults from an out of sorts Djokovic. Monfils held his serve easily in the next game to go from 0-5 to 3-5. The world number 12 was standing well inside the baseline to return Djokovic's first serves and he just pushed them back into play. The sliced and slow forehands and backhands from the Frenchman were clearly rattling Djokovic and Monfils ended up with two more break points that would get them back on serve. However, an error from Monfils and a big serve from Djokovic saved both break points and halted the comeback as the defending champion took the first set 6-3.
Crowd disappointment
Another break point came for Djokovic in the opening game of the second set but a big second serve from Monfils saved it. A back and forth net exchange between the pair ended as Monfils hit a lob that Djokovic managed to push back with a behind the back overhead smash, but the smash wasn't strong enough and Monfils ripped a backhand down the line that caught the net and fortunately for him, still landed over the other side of the court to finally get the opening hold of the set.
Djokovic easily held to love as Monfils continued to hit returns with no pace. The Serb then broke to love with the assistance of three failed serve-volley attempts from Monfils that ended up in the net. The Frenchman then seemed to abandon his bizarre court positioning and returned to his normal position behind the baseline but Djokovic still held serve with ease. Monfils was booed by the crowd as he hit two lazy errors in a row to give Djokovic a 0-30 lead on his own service game. A couple of big serves got him back to 30-30 but two bad backhand errors in a row gave Djokovic a double-break lead.
The world number one's forehand was working well as he held serve again with no trouble to go 5-1 up in the second set. Monfils looked to get his first easy hold of the match as he went 40-0 up on serve but two more double faults and a bad volley brought them to deuce. The Frenchman somehow managed to hold on and get only his fourth hold of serve in the match. Djokovic served out the second set, 6-2, to love and Monfils limped to the chair as he looked to be struggling with a right knee injury.
Signs of life from Monfils
The crowd tried to get Monfils fired up as he served to start the third set but more errors and a double fault gave the early break to Djokovic. The momentum switcher came in the Frenchman's next service game at 30-15 where he hit two aces in a row to go on the comeback trail.
The errors that were originally coming from the Frenchman's racket started to creep into Djokovic's game and with the help of yet another double fault, the break back went to Monfils. Suddenly after looking on the brink of retirement, Monfils found his game and reeled off another couple of good holds and took another break of the Djokovic serve with some huge winners to go 5-2 up. As Djokovic was serving to stay in the set he hit a couple of questionable drop shots from 40-15 up that Monfils chased down easily to bring him to deuce. Finally, a drop shot went the way of the Serb and he held to force Monfils to serve out the set.
The world number 12 started his service game with four horrible points in a row to give Djokovic three break points. Although he was doubled over in exhaustion after every point, he somehow managed to claw his way back to deuce and he took the third set 6-3 with a huge backhand down the line.
Comeback halted
Monfils had a chance to keep his momentum going into the fourth set with a break point in the opening game but another couple of lazy shots handed the hold of serve to Djokovic. The Frenchman then went 0-40 down for the second consecutive service game. Like the first, he managed to battle through for another hold, with the help of a drop shot that only just rolled over the top of the net. The stroke of luck was appreciated by the Frenchman as he kissed the net in relief.
More errors started to creep into Djokovic's game but he still managed to hold his serve and stay ahead at 2-1. Unbelievable retrieving and defense from Djokovic gave him the first break of serve in the fourth set, but it didn't last long as huge groundstrokes from Monfils and another Djokovic double fault gave the break straight back, with both men doubled over in exhaustion.
The Serb had a medical timeout at the change of ends as he had his right shoulder worked on by the trainer. Monfils opened his next service game after the timeout with his tenth and eleventh double faults of the match. Another failed serve-volley from Monfils gave Djokovic a break point and another error-ridden game went the way of the defending champion for a 4-2 lead. Djokovic managed to hold his serve in another strangely bad service game and broke the serve of Monfils again as he served to stay in the match to reach his 21st Grand Slam final.