ATP Rome: Nole books Thiem semi-final showdown

World no.2 Novak Djokovic stayed on track for his fifth Rome Masters title, when he outplayed former no.4 and reigning Olympic silver medalist Juan Martin del Potro 6-1, 6-4 at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

Match was suspended due to heavy rain on Friday as the Serbian star took a one-set lead over the Argentine in their quarter-final clash.

The torrential rain forced a suspension, with the four-time former titlist leading 6-1, 1-2.

When the play resumed on Saturday, Nole made a break in the fifth game and kept composed till the end to come through a potentially difficult contest.

Match statistics: aces (4-4), double faults (1-1), winners (24-14), unforced errors (21-21), total points won (60-47).

Novak will face no.8 seed Dominic Thiem in the last four at 20:00 CET (4-0 H2H).

The young Austrian knocked out fourth seed Rafael Nadal in straight sets on Friday.

No.16 seed Alexander Zverev (GER) takes on John Isner (USA) in the first semi-final.

Photo: AP

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