A showman with nothing to show for it, Monfils falls against Djokovic

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It’s no Djoke: Djokovic gets last laugh

NEW YORK — A point that meant little on the scoreboard Wednesday in the U.S. Open offered a clue about the difference between a player struggling to reach the top and another who’s much closer.

Though a regular swing would have sufficed, 17th-seeded Gael Monfils jumped up, brought his racket around his body and through his legs and hit a trick shot — straight into the bottom of the net.

It was a telling moment in his 7-6 (2), 6-1, 6-2 loss to No. 3 Novak Djokovic — “The Joker” — who can be equally entertaining on the court, though usually more discerning about when to put on a show.

Djokovic, the 2008 Australian Open champion who can do impressions of everyone from McEnroe to Nadal to Sharapova, reached his fourth straight semifinal at Flushing Meadows. The Serb has been eliminated the last three times, including in the 2007 final, by Roger Federer, who was scheduled to play Robin Soderling later Wednesday.

Djokovic fought through gusty winds at Arthur Ashe Stadium to roll to his victory and now gets two days of rest before the semifinal on “Super Saturday” at the Open.

“These are the worst conditions so far in the tournament,” he said. “I don’t think the crowd really enjoyed the tennis too much. We did have some acrobacy on the court.”

Monfils, he of the long limbs, the stylin’ clothes and unending charm, was hoping to make his second Grand Slam semifinal. But he was overmatched. After getting up an early break in the first set, he didn’t do any damage. He finished with 17 winners and 37 unforced errors — one of them more memorable than the rest.

The Frenchman offered the following explanation for the trick shot he tried while leading 40-0 early in the first set.

“No, I think it was going too fast, and I was like leaning the other way,” Monfils said. “So the ball came, and I just stopped and tried to do it, because I think, ah, I don’t have enough time to do that or to do that, so I try between the legs.”

In a women’s quarterfinal, No. 7 Vera Zvonareva let her opponent self destruct in the wind, taking advantage of 60 unforced errors to defeat No. 31 Kaia Kanepi.

Zvonareva, who made the Wimbledon final earlier this year, will play the winner of Wednesday evening’s quarterfinal between No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki and unseeded Dominika Cibulkova.

The 31st-seeded Kanepi struggled, hitting only 18 winners to go with her 60 unforced errors.

“The weather was definitely not for the good tennis out there,” Zvonareva said. “But no matter what match had to be played, we were both trying our best.”

The tone for the match was set early, when the players traded service breaks right away to make it 1-1, and they combined for 12 unforced errors and one winner through the first two games.

Asked how much she could blame on the wind and how much on her own play, Kanepi said, “Well, 50-50, I think.”

“I think I can’t blame the wind for everything,” she said. “I didn’t play well. Vera obviously played very well.”