Second-seeded Novak charged into the Western & Southern Open semi-finals on Friday with a convincing 6-3, 6-2 victory over Marin Cilic and moved within one win of back-to-back ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finals.
No.12 seed Cilic slipped to a 0-7 record against Nole, who hasn’t dropped a set en route to the last four.
The 25-year-old broke serve three times and saved all four break points he faced for victory in 81 minutes, improving to a 53-9 match record on the season (28-2 on hard).
“It was my best match so far here in this tournament,” said Novak. “Came in the right moment, really. I had the biggest challenge today with Cilic who has been playing well the last couple of months. Played a really good match.”
Match statistics: aces (7-2), double faults (2-0), winners (23-5), unforced errors (17-21), total points won (66-42).
Novak goes onto face no.6 seed Juan Martin del Potro in attempt to reach his fourth Cincinnati Masters finals. The Argentine defeated Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in straight sets 6-1, 6-3.
Djokovic and Del Potro have met six times, Nole leads 4-2. The Tandil native won their last encounter, a bronze medal match at the 2012 Olympics, 7-5, 6-4.
Their semi-final clash is scheduled on Saturday at 1:00 pm local time (7:00 pm CET).
Photo: AP
