Novak Djokovic delight at ‘flawless’ display to reach Japan Open semi-finals
Novak Djokovic needed just 50 minutes to blast past Lucas Pouille at the Japan Open.
Novak Djokovic admitted he produced a ‘flawless’ performance to beat Lucas Pouille 6-1 6-2 at the Japan Open in Tokyo.
Pouille had lost his two previous meetings with Djokovic and his hopes of springing upset were quickly extinguished as the world No 1 led 6-1 4-0 in just over 30 minutes.
And Djokovic completed the win in less than an hour to book his place in Saturday’s semi-finals.
After the match, Djokovic expressed his delight at how he performed.
“It was definitely one of the best matches I’ve played this year,” Djokovic said.
“Best one of this week [and it] came at the right time.
“I thought Lucas was playing really well the first couple of matches in this tournament.
“I saw him play a couple of days ago against [Yoshihito] Nishioka and he was playing really well.
“I took away the time from him. I served well, served many aces, returned a lot of his serves back and just used every opportunity to come in.
“Just overall, a really flawless performance.”
Djokovic’s stroll through his draw is even more surprising considering the doubts about his fitness before the tournament with a shoulder injury.
But the Serbian admitted his shoulder has been getting better with every match.
He added: “It has actually being feeling better and better as the tournament progresses.
“So hopefully it is going to stay that way.”
Djokovic will play Belgian David Goffin for a place in the final against either Reilly Opelka or John Millman.