Novak Djokovic dominates Kei Nishikori, reaches medal rounds in Tokyo

Kei Nishikori thought he was playing well. Then he played Novak Djokovic.

The top-ranked Serb never gave Nishikori an opportunity in a 6-2, 6-0 rout of the home favorite from Japan to reach the semifinals of the tennis tournament at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday.

“He was defending amazing today — everything deep — and I was trying to stay with him but I couldn’t,” Nishikori said. “I thought I was playing OK but my serving was bad today and he was attacking every [time].”

The dominant performance advanced Djokovic into the medal rounds and — more importantly — moved him one step closer to finishing off this segment of his Golden Slam bid.

In the women’s tournament, 12th-ranked Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and 2019 French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic will meet in the gold-medal match.

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Bencic defeated Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-3 and Vondrousova — who eliminated Naomi Osaka in the third round — defeated fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-3, 6-1.

Djokovic — who is in his third Olympic semifinal but has never made it to the gold-medal match — will next face either Alexander Zverev of Germany or Jeremy Chardy of France.

The other semifinal will feature Karen Khachanov of ROC versus Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain.

Khachanov defeated Ugo Humbert of France 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3 and Carreno Busta defeated second-seeded Daniil Medvedev of ROC 6-2, 7-6 (5).

Djokovic, who has already acquired the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon this year, needs the Tokyo Games title and the US Open trophy to become the first man to achieve the Golden Slam.

“The way he’s played today, this week and last couple months, it’s been amazing,” Nishikori said.

As it’s been for months, it seems that Djokovic, who has not dropped a set in the tournament, is getting better match by match — so much so that it looks like he’s hardly being tested.

“Matches are not getting easier, but my level of tennis is getting better and better and and I’ve done that so many times in my career,” Djokovic said. “I’m [the] kind of player that the further the tournament goes the better I’m feeling on the court and that’s the case here.”

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