Tennis – Wimbledon – All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain – July 13, 2018 Serbia’s Novak Djokovic celebrates during his semi final match against Spain’s Rafael Nadal REUTERS/Andrew Boyers
July 13, 2018
By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) – Novak Djokovic clawed his way to a two sets to one lead over great rival Rafael Nadal before their scintillating Wimbledon semi-final was paused on a knife-edge on Friday.
With the clock slipping past 11pm — the official curfew for action at the All England Club — Djokovic survived two set points in a gripping tiebreak to edge ahead.
Battle will resume on Saturday with the Serb leading 6-4 3-6 7-6(9) and needing one more set to book a Sunday showdown with South African eighth seed Kevin Anderson.
Anderson earlier won the longest-ever Wimbledon semi-final in a test of endurance with American John Isner that finished 26-24 in the fifth set after six hours and 36 minutes.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; editing by Ken Ferris)