Novak Djokovic won his 2nd match in the span of hours to move on to the Rome Masters where Rafael Nadal awaits.
It is the final that many hoped we would get and both Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal did their part to make it happen. Djokovic won his 2nd match in the span of a few hours defeating Sonego 6-4 6-7(5) 6-2.
It was a great performance from Novak who seemed unbothered by his long and exhausting match against Tsitsipas which finished several hours earlier. Djokovic was relentless on his own serve not allowing Sonego anything while he used his sole chance on the Italian's serve.
Djokovic took an early 3-1 lead and he held onto it ending the set with 6-4. Novak was sensational on his own serve dropping only 4 points and having a 100 % win percetange on his 2nd serve.
The 2nd set featured much sturdier play from Sonego who was able to fend off Djokovic in three different games. Djokovic was able to break him fairly late in the 2nd set taking a 6-5 lead but Sonego came right back to force a tiebreak. In it Djokovic was up 4-2 but Sonego ultimately won it 7-5.
The key moment in the final set was the first game. Sonego had 40-0 on Djokovic's serve but the Serbian was able to win that game. That injected him with energy and confidence and he took over in the next few games. He broke Sonego and was winning games with ease ultimately ending it with 6-2 after 2 hours and 45 minutes of play.
A great win for Djokovic who will face a mammoth task tomorrow in beating a more rested Nadal.