Champion Djokovic eases into Rome tennis semis

Rome, May 01: Reigning champion Novak Djokovic produced a classy display to defeat world number five Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 6-4 on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the Rome Masters claycourt tournament.

The 21-year-old world number three needs to retain his title or he will lose his ranking spot to number four Andy Murray, who was knocked out in the second round earlier this week.

But he looked every bit championship material with a commanding performance that lasted 1hr 38min under the baking sun at the Foro Italico.

The Serbian has yet to drop a set in three matches in this tournament and will face world number two Roger Federer in the semis if the Swiss 13-time Grand Slam winner defeats qualifier Mischa Zverev of Germany later on Friday.

Djokovic took command early on in the first set after a series of three breaks in a row. That allowed him to serve out the set 6-3, capping it with an ace on set point.

Del Potro came out with renewed determination in the second set and while he became increasingly dominant on his first serve, he also became more vulnerable on his second.

That gave Djokovic the initiative to break the Argentine fifth seed at 2-2 when Del Potro went long with a backhand at 15-40.

The match then went with serve until Del Potro had to save a match point at 3-5 with a big serve.

He saved two more match points at 4-5 when third seed Djokovic went wide with a backhand down the line and then netted a forehand.

But the Serbian claimed the victory on his fourth match point as Del Potro ran around his backhand but hit a cramped forehand into the net.

It was Djokovic's greater class that counted in the end as their statistics looked similar but for the Serbian hitting 20 winners to just eight from the Argentine.