Novak Djokovic survived Stefanos Tsitsipas over two days as a 4-6 7-5 7-5 win ensured his place in the last four of Rome.
The world number one came back from a set and a break down to ensure his place in the semi-finals in Rome.
It’s the second time in the space of a few weeks that Tsitsipas has lost to Djokovic and Nadal in three hour epic matches.
Next for Djokovic will be Lorenzo Sonego who beat Andrey Rublev 3-6 6-4 6-3 in his delayed quarter-final.
It was a bright start from Tsitsipas who was aggressive from the first ball and took the match to the world number one.
An early break helped settle the Greek down who was producing tennis of the highest from the baseline and at the net as he rushed Djokovic into errors.
That became a double break as the Serb was distracted by the rainy conditions as he couldn’t hit through Tsitsipas’s consistent defence.
After breaking back and consolidating after some nice combinational patterns of play, rain halted play for a few hours.
Once they came back it was Tsitsipas who continued to dictate the points to his favour and with accurate serving was able to close out the first set in in 51 minutes.
The start of the second set was no different, after both players held serve to love Tsitsipas grinded out a crucial break taking advantage of a lack of concentration from Djokovic.
However once again rain halted play and Djokovic had a whole night to figure out how to turn the match around as play was abandoned for the day.
As play resumed the next morning, Tsitsipas continued where he left off from yesterday as he was the aggressor dictating points and putting Djokovic under pressure.
That was until the eighth game as Djokovic raised his level and managed to make a lot of deep returns to cause Tsitsipas trouble.
Tsitsipas managed to save four break points with some clutch tactical serving and bold high-margin play.
On the fifth break point Djokovic finally punched a hole through Tsitsipas’ defence to level the set at 4-4 as he let out a huge roar.
The Greek remained valiant and produced a higher level of base play throughout the rest of the set as he earned two opportunities to break back.
However this time it was Djokovic’s turn to produce clutch serves and unlike Tsitsipas, the Serb held for 5-4.
Big moments were meant for big players and you can always rely on the world number one to produce those. A big final return game from Djokovic sealed with clever tactical played allowed him to break and let out another huge roar as he levelled this match at one set all.
In the final set, there was ball-striking of the highest quality as both players looked to out manoeuvre and out-hit each other.
The first break of the set went to Tsitsipas as Djokovic’s shot failed to reach the other side of the net as the Serb smashed his racket into the side barrier of the court.
After holding for a 3-1 lead, Tsitsipas looked to finish the match out as he had four opportunities for a double break lead.
A combination of erratic decisions and clutch serving from the world number one saw them saved as the Serb would hold on.
In typical Djokovic fashion he would break in the next game comfortably as this was turning out to be one of the best final sets of the season.
Tsitsipas would have the chance to close out the match after breaking for a 5-4 lead but the Serb’s court coverage was too good and he continued to hit insane returns for 5-5.
After 3 hours and 15 minutes of play over two days, Djokovic produced a near-perfect final game to deny Tsitsipas the win as he made his way into the semi-finals.
Next for the world number one will be Lorenzo Sonego on Saturday evening for a place in the final.
