World No.1 Novak Djokovic qualified Serbia for the Davis Cup semi-finals against Italy, easily beating Cameron Norrie (18th) 6-4, 6-4 in the second singles at the expense of the Great -Brittany, Thursday in Malaga.
In this last quarter-final, Miomir Kecmanovic (55th) brought the first point to the Serbs at the start of the evening against the British, deprived of Andy Murray. He defeated Jack Draper (60th), 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (8/6) after two hours of match.
Serbia will meet Italy on Saturday, who beat the Netherlands 2-1 in the afternoon. The opportunity for a reunion between Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner (4th), whom the Serbian easily dominated last weekend in the final of the ATP Masters in Turin, but against whom he lost in the group match.
If the first singles between Kecmanovic and Draper was a two-hour standoff, the second was more easily managed by Djokovic.
The Serbian, recent winner of the Paris Masters 1000 and the ATP Masters, quickly broke during the first set, won 6-4. From the start of the second set, Djokovic once again seized his opponent’s face-off, to conclude 6-4 thanks to three aces in the last game.
Djokovic, already winner of the Davis Cup in 2010, made this competition “one of his biggest goals” during this already exceptional season. In 2023, the Serbian won three new Grand Slam titles (Australia, Roland-Garros, US Open), bringing his total to 24, an absolute record for men.
The final will pit the winner of Italy-Serbia on Sunday against that of the other semi-final scheduled for Friday between Finland, defeater of Canada, defending champion, and Australia, finalist last year and victorious over the Czech Republic. .