Novak Djokovic of Serbia beat Spaniard Carlos Moya 6-4, 7-6 (7), 6-1 at the US Open on Thursday to reach his third consecutive Grand Slam semi-final.
Facing a set point in a tight tiebreaker, No. 3 Djokovic kept dribbling the ball, bouncing it 28 times in all.
Eventually, he tossed the ball -- and hit a fault. Djokovic cut his total to 13 bounces and hit a 182kph second serve to win the point.
"This is just a matter of concentration. I'm trying to really focus and not irritate anybody. Sorry if I'm a bit annoying," Djokovic said. "The thing is, I want to stay longer on this court, so that's why I'm bouncing more and more."
Prodded by a TV interviewer, Djokovic stuck around after the match to treat the fans to two of his impressions of other players. First he did his take on Maria Sharapova, then Rafael Nadal -- getting both exactly right, to loud laughs from the crowd.
"It's funny. He does it very well. That's a gift," Moya said, referring to Djokovic's renditions. "If he doesn't succeed in tennis, he has a career in that."
He does a good impersonation of a top tennis player when it counts, too, as he has proved all season.
Unlike at the French Open, where he lost to No. 2 Nadal, and at Wimbledon, where he stopped because of an injury while losing to Nadal, Djokovic will finally face a different foe.
In today's semi-finals, he'll meet No. 15 David Ferrer -- who ran Nadal ragged in the Open's fourth round. Ferrer reached his first major semi-final by beating No. 20 Juan Ignacio Chela 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 on Thursday.
Top-ranked Roger Federer is in his record 14th Grand Slam semi-final in a row and plays No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko today. Federer is 9-0 against Davydenko, and hasn't fared too poorly against the semi-finalists on the other side of the draw -- he's 7-0 against Ferrer.
Taiwan's Chan Yung-jan (詹詠然) and Chuang Chia-jung (莊佳容) made history by advancing to the US Open women's doubles final after securing a straight-set semi-final triumph on Thursday.
They became the first Taiwanese to reach a final at the US Open after defeating Agnes Szavay of Hungary and Vladimira Uhlirova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 7-6 to book a place in the championship match.
The Taiwanese pair eased through the first set and held on to win a second set tiebreak 7-5 to reach their second grand-slam final.
"It's a very good feeling," Chuang said. "I think we're getting better and better. We have worked a lot on strategy [since Australia] and it would be good for our national tennis [if we won the title]."
Chan and Chuang, dubbed the "Hope of Taiwan" by local media, were thrilled at their victory, saying that they will try their utmost to win the title tomorrow.
Chan, who only turned 18 last month, and Chuang, 22, said that they have developed a tacit understanding over the past two years playing together on the court.
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