Rome, May 15: Top-ranked Novak Djokovic regained his cool after throwing his racket off the court in a grueling, rain-delayed 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 quarterfinal victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Italian Open on Saturday.
Djokovic fought back from breaks of his serve in each of the final two sets to reach his eighth consecutive semifinal at the Foro Italico where he has lifted the trophy five times, most recently last September when the tournament was moved to later in the year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Sonego was backed by a loud crowd when he rallied past seventh-ranked Andrey Rublev 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to reach his first Masters semifinal. Their match was washed out Friday.
Fans were allowed to fill 25% of capacity as part of the Italian government’s reopening plan.
Nine-time Rome champion Rafael Nadal was facing big-serving American Reilly Opelka in the other semifinal.
In the women’s tournament, French Open champion No.15 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland ousted No. 35 Coco Gauff of the USA, 7-6(3), 6-3, to book a spot in the Italian Open final.
Iga will take on Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova in the final..
Karolina Pliskova beat Petra Martic of Croatia 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 in the other semi-final match.
The Djokovic-Tsitsipas match began on Friday but was suspended overnight with Tsitsipas leading 2-1 in the second set and up a break with play having already been interrupted for 3 hours due to the intermittent rain.
Facing a break point early in the third set, Djokovic attempted a difficult drop shot that landed on top of the net cord and agonizingly bounced back into his side of the court handing Tsitsipas a 2-1 lead.
Djokovic reacted by throwing his racket angrily into the advertising boards lining the side of the court, which drew a code violation warning for unsportsmanlike conduct from the chair umpire.
His temper was also an issue during his second-round match this week against Taylor Fritz, when he fumed at the umpire for not stopping play soon enough due to rain.
Last year, Djokovic was disqualified from the U.S. Open for unintentionally hitting a line judge in the throat with a ball. (AP)
