TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Top seed Novak Djokovic avenged his French Open final loss to Stan Wawrinka by crushing the Swiss 6-4 6-1 on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.
Djokovic, now two wins away from becoming the first player to win all nine ATP Masters titles, needed a mere 63 minutes to dispatch fifth seed Wawrinka in the first meeting between the two players since Roland Garros.
Wawrinka, who denied Djokovic a chance to complete a career grand slam in Paris, pushed a backhand wide on match point and finished with 33 unforced errors, more than double that of his in-form opponent.
Djokovic, a four-times runner-up in Cincinnati, broke Wawrinka's serve four times and dropped just 12 points on serve in his final tune-up event ahead of the Aug. 31-Sept. 13 U.S. Open in New York.
Up next for the world number one will be Ukrainian qualifier Alexandr Dolgopolov, a 6-4 6-2 winner over Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych.
In other quarter-final action on Friday, defending champion Roger Federer will face unseeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez while third seed Andy Murray will battle 12th seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet.
REUTERS
