Ruthless Djokovic hammers Musetti to reach semi-finals in Paris yet again

Former world No 1 Novak Djokovic overwhelmed Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-0, 6-3 on Friday to advance to the semi-finals of the Paris Masters at the Accor Arena.

The six-time champion fell a break down early in the second set but quickly righted the ship as he claimed a convincing victory to reach his 74th Masters 1000 semi-final.

The Serb, seeded seventh this week, will face the winner of the match between Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the No 5 seed, and American Tommy Paul. He’s now won 12 matches in a row.

“Best performance of the week for me, for sure, one of the best matches I’ve played this year,” Djokovic said. “I knew from the beginning what the tactic was and I think I executed it perfectly today.”

World No 7 Djokovic had already qualified for the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin thanks to his victory at Wimbledon this summer (as a member of the top 20 in the ATP Race) but he is now automatically qualified anyway as part of the top eight.

Perfect start from Djokovic in first set

The former world No 1 was in imperious form as he raced through the first set, dropping just eight points.

Musetti, who held a two-set lead over Djokovic at the French Open in 2021, showed some fight as he broke back early in the second set and broke for a 2-1 lead.

But Djokovic reeled off four straight games to take total control and after Musetti held for 3-5, he finished off the match in style.

Djokovic is through to the last four without dropping a set, having beaten American Maxime Cressy (7-6 (1), 6-4) and Russian Karen Khachanov (6-4, 6-1).

Musetti, ranked No 23, defeated Croat Marin Čilić, the No 15 seed (6-4, 6-4), Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili (6-4, 6-2) and Norwegian Casper Ruud, the No 3 seed (4-6, 6-4, 6-4) in the previous rounds.

Paris Masters 1000, other quarter-final results (Accor Arena, EUR 5.415.410, most recent results first):

• Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Tommy Paul
• Holger Rune beat Carlos Alcaraz (1): 6-3, 6-6 (1) ret.
• Felix Auger-Aliassime (8) beat Frances Tiafoe (16): 6-1, 6-4