Brutal Djokovic thrashes woeful Tsitsipas in Paris

By Julien Pretot

PARIS (Reuters) – Novak Djokovic destroyed a woeful Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-1 6-2 to book his place in the semi-finals of the Paris Masters on Friday.

The Serbian, who will be supplanted as world number one by Rafael Nadal on Monday, showed no signs of the cold that had bothered him in his first two rounds as he produced a brilliant display that lasted less than an hour.

He will next face Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, whose solid run at Bercy continued when he saw off Chile’s Cristian Garin 6-2 7-5.

Italian Matteo Berrettini, who was eliminated in the second round here, earned the remaining spot for the Nov. 10-17 ATP Finals at the O2 Arena in London after France’s Gael Monfils lost to Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-2 6-2.

Djokovic, a 16-time grand slam champion, raced through the first set and came close to handing Greek seventh seed Tsitsipas a bagel as he set up three set points at 5-0.

Tsitsipas saved them but then surrendered the set with some awful shots.

After securing an early break in the second set, Djokovic did not look back as he avenged his quarter-final loss to the Greek in the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters this year.

Earlier Dimitrov, who had been struggling since being beaten in the U.S. Open semi-finals in September, overcame a second-set wobble to reach the last four.

Dimitrov made a quick start as he broke Garin in his first service game. The Bulgarian bagged the opening set with another break in the eighth game as nerves got the better of Garin who was contesting his first Masters quarter-final.

Dimitrov moved 2-0 up in the second set but Garin hit back with his first break of the match to level for 2-2 and he stole the 28-year-old’s serve again to lead 5-4.

Dimitrov, however, broke straight back and wrapped it up on Garin’s serve on his first match point.

Nadal takes on local favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last match of the day.