Novak Djokovic has moved to inside one set of capturing a record-breaking 38th ATP Masters 1000 crown Sunday after profitable the primary set towards Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-Zero within the Internazionali BNL d’Italia closing.
The Serbian grew to become the fifth man within the Open Period to earn 1,000th match wins when he defeated Casper Ruud within the semi-finals and he backed that up with a robust first-set show towards Tsitsipas on centre courtroom.
The highest seed flew out of the blocks as he returned with nice depth, served properly and managed the tempo from the baseline together with his watertight groundstrokes to maneuver forward after 30 minutes.
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Djokovic is showing in his fourth straight closing in Rome and is aiming to carry the trophy within the Italian capital for the sixth time, together with his first triumph coming again in 2008. If he can shut out the match, he’ll grow to be the oldest Rome champion at 34 years, 11 months.
The 86-time tour-level titlist, who will spend a record-extending 370th week at No. 1 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings from Monday, additionally defeated Tsitsipas on the clay-court occasion final yr. Djokovic entered the match with a 6-2 lead of their ATP Head2Head collection and is 4-Zero towards the Greek on clay.
The highest seed reached the semi-finals in Madrid final week and has continued to construct momentum in Rome. He has not dropped a set en path to the ultimate, incomes wins over Aslan Karatsev, Stan Wawrinka, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Casper Ruud.
Tsitsipas is attempting to win his third ATP Masters 1000 title and second of the season after triumphing in Monte Carlo in April. The Greek, who will rise to No. Four within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on Monday, saved two match factors in his opening match towards Grigor Dimitrov and has earned a Tour-leading 31 wins in 2022.
© Peter Staples/ATP Tour
