Djokovic remains number one in the world and beats Auger-Aliassime in Rome

Novak Djokovic reached the semifinals of the Rome Masters tournament on Friday. The five-time winner on the Italian clay court competed in two long sets with Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime (7-5 ​​and 7-6 (1)) to remain the number one in the world.

Djokovic played for the first time against Auger-Aliassime (ATP-9). The 20-time Grand Slam winner, who lost first place in the world rankings to Daniil Medvedev, struggled to get the knockout blow in both sets.

Auger-Aliassime came back to 5-5 in the first company after leading 5-3, but had to pass in the twelfth game after breaking for the second time.

In the second set, Djokovic took a 5-2 lead, dropped an unused run after one game and returned his serve a game later. Auger-Aliassime countered 5-5 and won the tiebreak, but with a clear lead from Djokovic.

The 34-year-old Serb, who will play his fifth tournament in Rome in 2022, will record his best result in the final in Belgrade this year. Djokovic lost in his hometown in the last fight against Russian Andrey Rublev.

Djokovic will face Casper Ruud in the semifinals on Saturday. The world’s number ten reached the quarterfinals with another Canadian, Denis Shapovalov: 7-6 (7) and 7-5. In the other semifinals, the German Alexander Zverev and the Greek Stéfanos Tsitsipás will compete against each other.

Casper Ruud is Novak Djokovic’s next opponent.

Jabeur after good comeback in semi-final

The semifinals at the WTA tournament in Rome are also known. Iga Swiatek takes on Aryna Sabalenka and Ons Jabeur takes on Daria Kasatkina.

Ninth seed Jabeur faced Maria Sakkari in the quarterfinals. The Tunisian was 1-6 and 2-5 behind the fourth-seeded Greek, but still won the game: 1-6, 7-5 and 6-1.

Jabeur, 27, said: “At first I was very ashamed of the shadow. At 5-2 I said to myself, you can’t finish these two, almost three weeks like this. This encouraged me,” he said. He has won ten games in a row. It was the best of the clay court tournament in Madrid last week.

Jabeur will face unseeded Russian Kasatkina in the last four on Saturday, where Swiss Jil Teichmann trailed 6-4, 3-2.

Poland’s Swiatek also continued their streak. Canada’s Bianca Andreescu was the number one in the world with 7-6 (2), 6-0 and has won 26 games in a row. Her next opponent is Belarusian Sabalenka, who faced American Amanda Anisimova in the quarterfinals in three sets: 4-6, 6-3 and 6-2.

Also in Rome, Iga Swiatek is currently unbeatable.