Djokovic into US Open semis for four successive years

Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates a point during his match against Gael Monfils of France at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, September 8, 2010.

NEW YORK, Sept. 8 -- Third-seeded Novak Djokovic beat number 17 seed Gael Monfils 7-6 (7-2), 6-1, 6-2 on Wednesday to reach the U.S. Open semifinals for the fourth consecutive year.

The former runner-up here handled 17th-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils by playing more aggressive to clinch 40 points from 59 trips to the net.

The tough first set went to Djokovic when Monfils played a rather poor tiebreak, and the second set was a throw-away one for the Frenchman, as the 2008 Australian Open champion Djokovic simply dominated the stanza.

In the third set, Monfils had a chance to break Djokovic to pull within 3-4 and then serve to tie things up, but the Serb managed a key hold to go up 5-2 and then broke his French counterpart to reach the semifinals.

Djokovic moved on in 2 hours, 28 minutes, as he broke Monfils no less than seven times en route to victory. The Serb tallied 13 more unforced errors (50-37), but he also connected for 21 more winners (38-17).

The 23-year-old Djokovic is now a perfect 5-0 lifetime against Monfils, including a first-round win here in New York back in 2005.

Djokovic awaits Wednesday night's Roger Federer vs. Robin Soderling victor.

The former world No. 2 Djokovic will perform in his fourth U.S. Open and ninth career Grand Slam semifinal (2-6). The steady Serbian star was the 2007 U.S. Open runner-up to Federer and captured the Australia Open championship in 2008.

Two more quarterfinals will be staged on Thursday, when top- ranked Rafael Nadal meets eighth-seeded fellow Spanish lefthander Fernando Verdasco and 12th-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny takes on 25th-seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka.

Nadal is the reigning Wimbledon and French Open champion and owns eight major titles overall, but he still needs a US Open one to complete a rare men's career Grand Slam. Youzhny reached the final four here back in 2006.

Nadal is a laughable 10-0 lifetime against Verdasco, including 2-0 in Grand Slam events.

Gael Monfils of France hits a return to Novak Djokovic of Serbia during the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, September 8, 2010.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a return to Gael Monfils of France during the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, September 8, 2010.
(Reuters)