Serbia

Novak Djokovic

Norway

Casper Ruud

The world number one should have no problems in his semi-final match. The Serb will win in two sets with confidence

After Djokovic's failure to play at the Australian Open 2022, the tennis player's game began to decline. This season, Novak has yet to win a single tournament. He lost to Jiri Vesela in Dubai, crushed Alejandro Davidovic-Fokina in Monte Carlo and lost to Carlos Alcaraz at the Madrid Masters. In 2021 Djokovic reached the final in Rome, where he was defeated by Rafael Nadal 5-7, 6-1, 3-6. At the current tournament in the Italian capital the Serb began with a confident win over Russia's Aslan Karatsev (6-3, 6-2), then easily crushed Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland (6-2, 6-2), who recently recovered from a foot injury. In the quarter-finals, the Belgrade native overcame a hard-fought Canadian, Felix Auger-Allassim (7-5, 7-6). Ruud has a chance of reaching the final. The Norwegian has not been playing his best of late. After failing to win the title in Miami, Kasper has slowed down. In the Italian capital, Ruud had a fine showing against Canada's Denis Shapovalov (7-6, 7-5), also beaten Botik van de Zandschulp (6-7, 6-2, 6-4) and Jenson Brooksby (6-3, 6-4). It is worth noting that the Norwegian is a comfortable opponent for Djokovic. Novak has twice crossed paths with Kasper on the courts. The Norwegian has failed to win at least one match. Moreover, Ruud has never won at least one set against the Serb. It's doubtful that Kasper will surprise the world number one. The bookmakers consider Djokovic to be the unqualified favourite. And this is absolutely fair. Novak will not delay the meeting. The Serb has a great chance to win the title at the Masters in Rome. With such serious motivation, the Belgrade native will be on the court tearing it up. Most likely, the Serb will break at least one break in each set and will easily take his opponent down in two games. You can bet that no more than 21 games will be played in the match.