Novak Djokovic defeats Cameron Norrie, sends Serbia to Davis Cup semifinals

MALAGA, Spain – Novak Djokovic became the most successful Serbian player in Davis Cup history by taking his country to the semifinals for the second time in three years with his 21st consecutive singles victory on Thursday.

Top-ranked Djokovic beat Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-4 to give Serbia a 2-0 victory over Great Britain and set up a quarter-final meeting with Jannik Sinner’s Italy on Saturday in the he most important team event in men’s tennis.

“Playing for your country is always the biggest pressure and motivation,” Djokovic said. “After a long season, you can feel it in your legs. Now we face Italy. They are a very strong nation. We will fight and leave everything aside on the pitch.”

This is a record 44th Davis Cup victory for Djokovic, putting him ahead of Nenad Zimonjic. Djokovic now has 40 singles victories for his country.

The Italians beat the Netherlands 2-1 in the other quarter-final match on Thursday to reach the semi-finals for the second consecutive season. Sinner kept Italy alive by winning his singles match and he then successfully teamed up with Lorenzo Sonego in the doubles.

Djokovic’s last Davis Cup singles loss came when he retired against Juan Martin del Potro in Serbia’s semifinal loss to Argentina in 2011. Djokovic’s last loss in a full match in singles in the Davis Cup dates back to 2009.

He finished the season in impressive form, having won a record seventh ATP Finals title in a final against Sinner. Djokovic, 36, has won three Grand Slam titles this year to take his record to 24 in total.

He never struggled against Norrie, the top-ranked British player, breaking serve once in each set at the Martin Carpena Arena. He didn’t have a break point the entire match.

Djokovic, who now has a 44-14 Davis Cup record, appeared annoyed by the behavior of some of the nearly 5,000 British fans. After the match, he told them to “shut up” and “shut up” as they began drumming during his on-field interview.

“Learn to respect the players, learn to behave,” he said.

In the first singles match, Miomir Kecmanovic defeated Jack Draper 7-6 (2), 7-6 (6).

Ten-time Davis Cup champions Great Britain were looking to reach their first semi-final in four years. He was depleted by injuries to Andy Murray and Dan Evans.

Without Djokovic, Serbia did not advance past the quarterfinals last year. It lost to Croatia in the 2021 semifinals. Serbia’s only Davis Cup title came with a Djokovic-led team in 2010.

THE SINNER AT THE LEADERSHIP OF ITALY

The Netherlands secured the first point when Botic Van De Zandschulp saved three match points in the final tiebreaker to beat Matteo Arnaldi 6-7 (6) 6-3 7-6 (7) in a first singles exciting which lasted almost 3 hours.

The fourth Sinner beat Tallon Griekspoor 7-6 (3) 6-1 to make the score 1-1. He and Sonego beat Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof 6-3, 6-4 in the deciding doubles.

“Obviously I came here with full confidence, but the first day wasn’t easy, and today I started the first set poorly, but I still tried to keep going,” said Sinner, 22 years old. “I think we’re doing all the right things. We’re one big family and we showed that today. Everyone is giving 100%. It’s the least thing the players can do, especially when They play for their country.”

Without Sinner, the Italians were eliminated by eventual champion Canada last year.

The Italians won their only Davis Cup title in 1976 and will attempt to reach their first final since 1998. Italy has reached seven semi-finals this century.

The Netherlands, in the quarter-finals for the second consecutive year, was trying to match their best-ever semi-final performance in 2001.

Australia and Finland will play the other semi-final match on Friday.