Tennis star Novak Djokovic has fought his way into the final of the Masters 1000 tournament in Paris-Bercy. The 24-time Grand Slam tournament winner from Serbia won his semi-final match against the Russian Andrei Rublev 5:7, 7:6 (7:3), 7:5.
“Rublev suffocated me like a snake suffocates a frog,” said Djokovic afterwards about the Russian, who played very powerfully: “He played at an extremely high level for large parts of the match.” The 36-year-old himself struggled with his fitness at the start of the match, but then “fought his way in”
Djokovic will face Grigor Dimitrov in the final on Sunday. The Bulgarian had previously beaten Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece 6:3, 6:7 (1:7), 7:6 (7:3). Tsitsipas had knocked the German Olympic champion Alexander Zverev out of the tournament in the round of 16.