Djokovic survives Gael-force winds

In a wind-marred, sloppy and slightly surreal encounter on an afternoon, in which the swirling gusts inside Arthur Ashe Stadium became not just a factor, but a protagonist, Novak Djokovic solved the riddle better than Gael Monfils and advanced to the semifinals with a 7-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory.

Though Djokovic, the third seed, emerged victorious, that doesn't mean he wasn't extremely frustrated by the wind. "The conditions were maybe as difficult as we saw so far in the tournament. We didn't have wind only one direction. We had it all over," said Djokovic.

"I don't think the crowd enjoyed the tennis so much," he added.

In this quarterfinal between two tall and supremely athletic and flexible players, the wind had Djokovic throwing up his arms in disgust and a thoroughly puzzled Monfils hitting no-pace, scooped forehands and dink shots.

With their shirts rippling in the wind like a sail on a mast, the net visibly bowed by the northwesterly gusts, and napkins, newspapers, cups and towels blowing around on the court and up in the stands, the stadium took on the appearance of a wind tunnel.

"That windy, never," said Monfils when asked if he'd ever played in windier conditions. "Wind like this for me is very tough. I have a big swing, and as you can see, my adjustment is not that good sometime."

"The talent for play in the wind, I don't have like yet," Monfils concluded.

Djokovic handled the conditions better. "The key facts to kind of try to adjust the wind is a good focus and patience, try to hold your nerves throughout the whole match, and play one point out of at a time," he said.

"Maybe the wind helped me a little bit more because it neutralized his serve," added Djokovic.

For a good stretch of the second set, after the Serb outplayed the Frenchman in a tiebreak to take a one-set lead, the impossible conditions made the match more like theater of the absurd than Grand Slam tennis. Each player fought, often in vain, against the wind, and himself.

Monfils employed a variety of enigmatic cat-and-mouse techniques and even trick shots that he appeared to attempt just for the heck of it. The Frenchman is a consummate showman, but the playground shot he pulled out in the first set - when he leaped unnecessarily at the baseline and tried a between-the-legs drive - had even his most ardent fans scratching their heads.

Monfils admitted to confusion on the court. "I was completely lost. Can't serve, can't really use my forehand. You run for what?"

For awhile, the junkball tactics and purely unpredictable nature of Monfils's game seemed to unnerve Djokovic. But in the tiebreak, Djokovic battened down the hatches and rolled to a 7-2 win.

Djokovic is surely more accustomed to the peculiar conditions that can persist within Ashe. He has reached the semifinals of the US Open now four straight years, and he was runnerup in 2007. This is the first time that Monfils had reached the quarterfinals here.

Yet even up a set and a break, Djokovic was still slamming balls into the net in frustration and smacking himself in the forehead.

The Frenchman's performance became even more perplexing as the match wore on. For entire games he was unwilling to swing out on his forehand, which he merely pushed back into play.

For his part, Djokovic uncharacteristically began to bum-rush the net, approaching a whopping 59 times (it was a winning tactic, though, as he 68 percent of those points).

After losing the first-set tiebreak, Monfils went away fast. Djokovic broke serve four times in the second set to essentially put the match beyond Monfils's considerable reach.

In the final set, after another ill-advised, desperate jumping trick shot by Monfils failed, Djokovic broke serve with a screaming cross-court forehand to take a 3-1 advantage.

The Serb fittingly broke serve for the seventh time to close out the match, as Monfils lunged awkwardly at a forehand and sent it soaring out of court. Djokovic is now 5-0 in career head-to-head matchups with Monfils.

Djokovic, who has so far flown under the radar for a third seed, will meet either Roger Federer or Robin Soderling in the semifinal. If Federer, it would be their fourth consecutive meeting at the US Open, all in either the semis or final.

The Serb is so far without a victory.