Djokovic Beats Del Potro, Advances To Wimbledon Final

Novak Djokovic fought fiercely to defeat the tough Argentine Juan Martin del Potro in one of two semifinals at Wimbledon on Friday.

The match was one of the most memorable ones in the history of The Championships at Wimbledon.

It took Djokovic four hours and 43 minutes of effort to get past the feisty South American.

The Serb won in five sets 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-7 (6), 6-3 to move one victory closer to his seventh major title.

In his post-match interview Djokovic described the match.

“One of the best matches I’ve been a part of. One of the most exciting definitely. It was so close. You couldn’t separate us. Exciting.”

The grueling match was the longest semifinal played in the history of the All England Club and came five minutes short of the 2008 final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

This will be Djokovic’s 11th Grand Slam final, where he’ll play the winner of the second semifinal between No. 24 Jerzy Janowicz from Poland and No. 2 Andy Murray from Great Britain.

The match was characterized by hard hitting tennis from both players. Del Potro entertained the crowd with his obvious frustration at times, falling to the ground and talking to himself.

Djokovic, who is cool, calm, and collected didn’t show much emotion, but played superb tennis.

Del Potro who won a Grand Slam for first time at the 2009 U.S. Open, saved two match points in the fourth-set tiebreaker, then won the final four points to take it 8-6.

Todays’s semi surpassed the 1989 match between Boris Becker and Ivan Lendl, a four-hour, one-minute marathon, as the longest semifinal in Wimbledon’s history.

Even with his left knee heavily wrapped and after suffering a nasty slip in his quaterfinals, Del Potro made Djokovic earn his trip to the Sunday final.

“In tough situations, he came with some unbelievable shots,” Djokovic said.

Djokovic now awaits the winner of the Murray, Janowicz match.

[Image via FlashStudio / Shutterstock.com]