Djokovic rolls over Wawrinka to reach Cincinnati semis

Top seed Novak Djokovic avenged his French Open final loss to Stan Wawrinka by crushing the Swiss 6-4 6-1 to reach the semi-finals of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

Djokovic, now two wins away from becoming the first player to win all nine ATP Masters titles, needed a mere 63 minutes to dispatch fifth seed Wawrinka in the first meeting between the two players since Roland Garros.

Wawrinka, who denied Djokovic a chance to complete a career grand slam in Paris, pushed a backhand wide on match point and finished with 33 unforced errors, more than double that of his in-form opponent.

Djokovic, a four-times runner-up in Cincinnati, broke Wawrinka’s serve four times and dropped just 12 points on serve in his final tune-up event ahead of the US Open in New York.

Up next for the world number one will be Ukrainian qualifier Alexandr Dolgopolov, a 6-4 6-2 winner over Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych.

In other quarter-final action on Friday, defending champion Roger Federer will face unseeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez while third seed Andy Murray will battle 12th seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

In the women’s draw, top-seed Serena Williams recovered from a set down to beat Ana Ivanovic 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.