PARIS, June 1, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Novak Djokovic (L) of Serbia hugs with Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain after the men's singles fourth round match on day 11 of 2016 French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros, in Paris, France on June 1, 2016. Djokovic won 3-1. (Xinhua/Han Yan)
PARIS, June 3 (Xinhua) -- World No. 1 Novak Djokovic stormed into his 20th Grand Slam final with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 win over the French Open semifinal debutant Dominic Thiem on Friday.
The 29-year-old Serb, seeking his first Roland Garros title to complete a career slam, almost met no trouble from the outset, breaking the 22-year-old Thiem at the Austrian' s first serving game before breaking twice in the second set.
Thiem, however, roared back from the beginning of the third set to break Djokovic and take a 3-0 lead before the top seed reeled off five games in a row to deny the youngster' s effort.
Djokovic, who' s already won the year' s opening major at Melbourne, later better proved himself the kind of man with stern mind and steady performance, served out the match for his sixth straight slam final.
The Serb rated the semi his "best performance of the tournament" .
"As I was hoping after the long fourth round that I'm going to start playing better as the tournament progresses, and that's what's happening now," he said. His match against Thiem was taken to the Court Suzanne Lenglen, which was unusual as the French Open men' s singles semifinalists normally play successively in Court Philippe Chatrier in stead of playing at the same time.
After too many rain delays and a washout on Monday for the first time at Roland Garros in 16 years, the clay-court major has been forced to make a compressed schedule in the second week.
"It was amazing ambience, atmosphere on the Suzanne Lenglen," he said. "It was the first time I have played the semifinals of Roland Garros on that court."
"I'm obviously very glad to win in three sets and against a player that was in-form," he added. "He carries himself very well on and off the court for his age. He's a leader of a new generation, very powerful, and has a lot of strength and variety in his game."
And Thiem said Djokovic was just too strong for the day' s match. "But still it inspires me to even work harder. I hope I get a new chance soon in the future," said the Austrian.
With Andy Murray seeing off defending champion Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in the other semifinal, Djokovic will try his chances for the straight second year against the Scot on Sunday.
If he takes the French title, the Serb would come out the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four Grand Slams at the same time.
Just hours before his semifinal, Djokovic was fined 5500 U.S. dollars for flinging his racquet in the quarterfinals against Czech Thomas Berdych on Thursday when it nearly bounced at a linesman.
