Novak Djokovic beats Taylor Fritz to stay on course for Carlos Alcaraz final, sets up Alexander Zverev tie in Cincinnati

Updated 19/08/2023 at 07:50 GMT

Novak Djokovic defeated American tennis' No. 1 Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Open on Friday, 6-0 6-4. That victory sets up a semi-final against Alexander Zverev, who defeated Adrian Mannarino 6-2 6-3 in his own quarter-final. A win in the final in Ohio could return Djokovic to the No. 1 spot in the world rankings if other results go his way.

Highlights as Djokovic swats away Fritz at Cincinnati Open

Novak Djokovic kept another unbeaten record, this time against Taylor Fritz, beating the American 6-0 6-4 on Friday to reach the Cincinnati Open semi-finals.

World No. 2 Djokovic had defeated Gael Monfils on Thursday to move onto a 19-0 record against the Frenchman, and his latest victory means he has gone 7-0 against Fritz.

The Serbian bagelled the first set as he looked to be cruising to victory, but Fritz broke in the second only for Djokovic to battle through for the victory.

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He will play Alexander Zverev in his semi-final, where he is on course to meet Carlos Alcaraz in the final, should the Spaniard defeat Hubert Hurkacz in his own match-up.

Should Djokovic progress to the final and win the tournament, and Alcaraz loses to his Polish opponent, then he will once again become the world No. 1, with the 20-year-old the current incumbent.

Speaking after his win about his 100 percent record against Fritz, he remarked: "Every match is a new match, a new challenge for both of us.

"We never faced each other here. Obviously being the No. 1 American, he gets a lot of crowd support.

"I just managed to get off the blocks really strong, played an almost perfect, flawless first set. Then I started off really poorly in the second and handed him the break, but from 2-4 down I played really four solid games in the second. Just overall a great performance."

Zverev won his match against Adrian Mannarino to keep his own perfect record with his eighth straight victory after a 6-2 6-3 win achieved in only 72 minutes.

"I feel like the matches that we played, we had a lot of tough battles. I've always played him at tournaments when I've been playing well," Zverev said after the match.

"I know I have a pretty big game and when I'm feeling well on the court, there's just a lot of things I can do. That was maybe the reason. If I would have played him at a tournament where I'm not feeling well, if I'm not playing well, he's beaten a lot of great players in his career. It's just more about the days that I've played him."

Djokovic has won in Cincinnati twice before, in 2018 and 2020, and a victory would extend his record of 39 ATP Masters 1000 singles championships. Reaching the tie against Zverev will be his 75th ATP Masters 1000 semi-final, one short of a record currently held by Rafael Nadal.

Zverev won the title in 2021.

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