Felix Auger-Aliassime proved no match for Novak Djokovic, who looks well set to claim his first title of 2022.
It has been a frustrating season to date for the Serbian, who reached a final in Belgrade last month before being beaten by rising star Carlos Alcaraz in Madrid earlier in May.
Yet with Rafael Nadal out of the picture, Djokovic is the clear favourite heading into the Internazionali d'Italia semi-finals, after he beat Auger-Aliassime 7-5 7-6 (7-1) on Friday.
The win not only tees up a semi-final against Casper Ruud, who saw off Nadal's conqueror Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (9-7) 7-5, but also ensures Djokovic will spend a 370th week at the top of the ATP rankings, after he slipped below Daniil Medvedev in the live standings.
Djokovic will add 360 points to his total for reaching the last four, and he now has a milestone 1,000th Tour-level win in his sights when he takes on Ruud for a place in the final. The 34-year-old has won a record 37 Masters 1000 titles so far in his career, including five in Rome.
"I thought it was high-level tennis," Djokovic said. "[Auger-Aliassime] did ask me to raise the level and I had to play consistently well.
"I thought I could have finished the job earlier, but credit to him for fighting back.
"I know Felix well. He's been around the top of the men's game for quite a few years. He's got a lethal serve, honestly. He's hitting his spots in the box incredibly well with the serve, and it was not easy for me at all to return.
"He's also returning well, he's moving well. He's a very complete player."
The other semi-final will see second seed Alexander Zverev, who beat Cristian Garin 7-5 6-2, take on Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Greek Tsitsipas overcame Jannik Sinner 7-6 (7-5) 6-2, becoming the first player to reach 30 wins on the ATP Tour in 2022.
"We have similar game styles but he is one of the most difficult players to play against on the Tour," Tsitsipas said, previewing his clash with Zverev.
"I have a lot of respect for him. He has achieved a lot so far and I try and look up to him with the things he has achieved."
Jaiswal, Kohli tons put India on the verge of win against Australia
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli bagged magnificent centuries to put India in a commanding position on day three of their first Test match against Australia in Perth.
India declared in a dominant position of 487-6 after Jaiswal (161) built on their 172-0 at stumps on day two and former captain Kohli (100 not out) added quick runs with his first century in 16 months coming up during the final hour.
The tourists then wreaked havoc with the ball in five overs before stumps as captain Jasprit Bumrah dismissed debutant Nathan McSweeney (zero) and Marnus Labuschagne (three) before nightwatchman Cummins (two) fell to Mohammed Siraj with the score at 12, as the hosts trail by 521 runs with seven wickets in hand.
Earlier in the Test, India had scored 150 batting first before bundling out Australia for 104 in the first innings.
Jaiswal resumed his innings at 90 on the third day and brought up his century in the first hour before KL Rahul departed for 77 after an opening-wicket partnership of 201.
The centurion fell as India's third wicket at 313-3 as Australia picked up three wickets in the space of eight runs, but Kohli reached his ton with help from Washington Sundar (29) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (38 not out) as India asserted their dominance.
Sinner and Berrettini send defending champions Italy into Davis Cup final
Jannik Sinner's victory over Alex de Minaur clinched Italy's place in another Davis Cup final, with Matteo Berrettini also victorious as the defending champions beat Australia 2-0.
Italy won the Davis Cup for the first time since 1976 last year, and they will have an opportunity to defend their crown against the Netherlands on Sunday.
Former Wimbledon finalist Berrettini got the ball rolling with an entertaining 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 7-5 victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis, not surrendering a break after losing the opener in a tie-break.
That teed up Sinner to close out Italy's victory, with the world number one overcoming De Minaur 6-3 6-4, the same scoreline he beat the Australian by at the ATP Finals earlier this month.
Speaking after his victory in Malaga, Sinner said: "It means a lot. It was a tough encounter, playing Alex. We know each other quite well now, so I have to be very careful every time.
"It's a very tough challenge for me, so I was looking forward to this one. Obviously, it helped a lot that Matteo won the singles today. He played amazing tennis. It was very high quality.
"Hopefully, this can give us some confidence for [Sunday]. It's going to be a very difficult and tough day for us and also the Netherlands."
Data Debrief: Back-to-back for Italy
Italy's men are looking to follow in the footsteps of their female counterparts, who won the Billie Jean King Cup earlier this week.
They are just the third nation in history to make back-to-back finals at both the Davis Cup and the Federation/Billie Jean King Cup, after the United States (1963-64, 1978-79, 1981-82 and 1990-91) and Australia (1963-64 and 1964-65).
Djokovic appoints Murray as coach for Australian Open
Novak Djokovic has announced his long-term former rival Andy Murray as his coach for the Australian Open in 2025.
Murray, a three-time Grand Slam winner, announced his retirement earlier this year and played his final match at the Paris Olympics in August.
He will join Djokovic's team in the off-season and coach him through the opening grand slam of the year, which begins on January 12.
This will be Murray's first coaching role since retiring following a 19-year career.
"We played each other since we were boys. 25 years of being rivals, of pushing each other beyond our limits," Djokovic said in a video on social media.
"We had some of the most epic battles in our sport. They called us game changers, risk-takers, history makers.
"I thought our story may be over - turns out it has one final chapter.
"It's time for one of my toughest opponents to step into my corner. Welcome onboard coach, Andy Murray."
Djokovic failed to win a major title for the first time since 2017, though he did clinch a long-awaited Olympic gold medal in Paris.
The Serb is currently level with Margaret Court for the most major singles titles by any player. He has a good record in Australia though, winning 10 times in Melbourne, beating Murray in four of those finals.
Murray, who beat Djokovic to win the US Open title in 2012 and Wimbledon the following year, says he hopes they can achieve success together.
"I'm going to be joining Novak's team in the off-season, helping him to prepare for the Australian Open," Murray said.
"I'm really excited for it and looking forward to spending time on the same side of the net as Novak for a change, helping him to achieve his goals."
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
