Djokovic faces Nadal into dream final

PARIS – Novak Djokovic outclassed Roger Federer to reach the French Open final and maintain his bid to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time.

Saturday, June 09, 2012

PARIS – Novak Djokovic outclassed Roger Federer to reach the French Open final and maintain his bid to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time.The world number one came from a break down to win the first set before overturning a 3-0 deficit, preventing Federer serving out to take the second.Djokovic sealed a comfortable 6-4 7-5 6-3 win in two hours and five minutes."This is Federer in decline. He hasn’t got the consistency to live with Djokovic and Nadal. He can do it in best-of-three set tournaments but that’s the difference for me. I don’t like saying this, he is a legend. I was thinking ‘if he played Nadal in the final he would be minced, utterly minced’. It would be quite embarrassing.”The world’s two best players will both be attempting records, Nadal a seventh Roland Garros title and Djokovic seeking to become only the third player, and the first since Rod Laver in 1969, to hold all the major trophies at once.Djokovic and Federer’s 10th Grand Slam meeting could not sustain expectations as the Serbian levelled the overall score to 5-5.Federer won in four sets when the pair met in the semi-finals at Roland Garros last year, but his many followers will have been alarmed with his failure to compete for long periods in this encounter.The match began in suitably gladiatorial fashion with the two players trading imperious winners.Federer captured the first break with a sweeping forehand but Djokovic, who needed to save four match points to overcome Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter-finals, broke back immediately.