Novak Djokovic, a big favorite at the Masters 1000 in Rome after the elimination on Thursday of defending champion Rafa Nadal, qualified for the semifinals yesterday by winning a very high-level duel against Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime 7-5, 7-6 ( 7-1).
This hard-fought victory ensures the Serb will retain the number one spot in the world hierarchy on Monday, which would have passed into the hands of Russian Daniil Medvedev in the event of defeat before the semi-finals.
It was Djokovic’s 999th win on tour. In case of a new victory today, he will enter the select group of players with 1,000 or more wins (along with Jimmy Connors, Roger Federer, Ivan Lendl and Nadal). The Serbian, already a five-time winner on the clay of the eternal city, will face the Norwegian Casper Ruud in the semifinals.
Before, the German Alexander Zverev achieved his pass to the semifinals of the Rome tournament by beating the Chilean Cristian Garín 7-5, 6-2 and will face the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who defeated 7-6 (7-5), 6- 2 to Italian Jannik Sinner.
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