Wimbledon 2014: Novak Djokovic Beats Grigor Dimitrov to Reach Final

Novak Djokovic reached a third Wimbledon final after edging past Grigor Dimitrov in four sets at the All England Club.

The 2011 champion prevailed 6-4 3-6 7-6 7-6 against the world No.13, who spurned four set points to clinch a decider while being watched on by girlfriend and former ladies' singles champion Maria Sharapova.

Roger Federer or Milos Raonic await in Sunday's final, after Djokovic reached his fourth final in the last five grand slams and continues his pursuit of becoming world No.1

After ousting 2013 champion Andy Murray on Wednesday, Dimitrov was keen on adding another scalp to already impressive résumé in his first grand slam semi-final against Djokovic, himself featuring in his 15<sup>th major last four clash in 16 outings.

Djokovic had defeated the 23 year old in three of their four career meetings, including at Roland Garros last month and knew that in the wake of surprise last eight defeats for Rafael Nadal and Murray, that Dimitrov possessed the weapons to produce another shock.

Though the rookie produced a nerveless start to his service games, a string of errors gave Djokovic the early break after a deep chip, and the Serbian clung on without alarm to take the opening set.

The mistakes continued to flow from the Dimitrov racket and despite Djokoivic benefitted from a net cord which took the ball long; the Bulgarian underdog's solid ground-stroke game was seemingly starting to unravel.

The 2011 champion Djokovic had enjoyed an anything but faultless start himself and though he saved a Dimitrov break-point and then broke for a 3-2 lead, he quickly lost his advantage after netting a backhand from the baseline.

Suddenly the world was against Djokovic and a contentions line call saw Dimitrov break for a second successive game, allowing him to serve out the set to level the match with just over an hour played.

The third set began in typically tight fashion, with neither player giving an inch but after Dimitrov served to clinch a tiebreak, the flood-gates opened and Djokovic powered through 7-2 to take a two sets to one lead.

The six-time grand slam champion threatened to storm into the final after claiming an early break in the fourth, but Dimitrov's commitment to the cause saw him square the set at 2-2 before a potential turning point as Djokovic saved three break points to hold.

Dimitrov then spurned a set-point chance as Djokovic showed nerves of steel to set up a second tiebreak which saw the Queen's champion take a 4-2 lead at the changeover.

But it was an advantage he was unable to take, as Djokovic saved three further set points and then after a double-fault at 6-6, the former world No.1 had a match point within his grasp.

A forehand pass kept Dimitrov's Wimbledon hopes alive, but another slip saw Djokovic bring up a second match point which he took to reach a second successive final at SW19.