Novak Djokovic cruised past Hubert Hurkacz 6-3 6-4 after 78 minutes on Manolo Santana Stadium with a break in each set to reach his seventh Madrid Mutua Open semifinal. Djokovic has improved his head-to-head series record against Hurkacz to 4-0.
Djokovic got through to his 72nd career Masters 1000 semifinal.
Djokovic is chasing his 38th Masters 1000 title and his fourth title at the Madrid Mutua Open after his previous wins 2011, 2016 and 2019.
The Serbian player dropped 13 points in his 10 ten service games and never faced a break point.
Djokovic held serve at love in the opening game and earned a break point in the second game after a double fault from Hurkacz.
Djokovic went up a break in the second game after a backhand error from Hurkacz. The 20-time Grand Slam champion won four consecutive points to hold serve for 3-0 lead after a loose forehand from Hurkacz.
Djokovic did not face a break point in his next service games to close out the first set 6-3 with a service winner after 36 minutes.
The world number 1 player earned the decisive break in the fifth game after a forehand winner from Hurkacz. Djokovic held serve after after two deuces and hit a backhand down the line in the ninth game to earn two match points. Hurkacz saved them and held serve with a forehand winner for 4-5. Djokovic served for the win with a hold at 15 on his fourth match point in the 10th game.
Earlier this week Djokovic beat Gael Monfils in the second round to extend his record as World Number 1 to 369 weeks.
Djokovic will face the winner of the all-Spanish quarter final clash against Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz.
“I was serving really well in the second set, I think that kept me alive. I was pleased with the way I was constructing points. I tried to make him run and miss and overall it was a solid performance. It is definitely warmer today, even in the past two hours since the warm-up, the bounce of the ball has increased by two metres. Hubi is tall and with his rotation in this altitude, everything bounces really high, so I was standing deep in the court, trying to mix things up. I put pressure on his first serve. It took us both time to adjust and in the second I think was better quality”, said Djokovic.
