Novak Djokovic becomes 5th player in Open Era to win 1000 singles matches

Novak Djokovic joined an exclusive club on Saturday at the Foro Italico in Rome. The World No. 1 beat Casper Ruud in straight sets (6-4, 6-3) to move into his 12th final in the competition. In the process, he became the fifth player (third active) in the Open Era to register 1000 singles match wins.

Djokovic is widely considered one of the best players in the game's history. He has won a record 37 Masters 1000 titles and 20 Majors, second only to Rafael Nadal. The Serb is one of two players to have won each Grand Slam tournament twice and is the only one to accomplish the feat at the Masters 1000 level. With his win over Ruud on Saturday, Djokovic is now in elite company.

He has joined Jimmy Connors (1274), Roger Federer (1251), Ivan Lendl (1068) and Rafael Nadal (1051) as the only men's singles players to win 1000 matches.

Among the quintet, Djokovic (34 years, 11 months) is the oldest to arrive at the milestone. Connors (164), Lendl (199) and Nadal (201) lost fewer matches than Djokovic (203) while registering 1000 wins. Federer endured 227 losses before reaching the landmark.

Djokovic, though, has the most top-10 wins (231), followed by Federer (183), Nadal (172), Lendl (161) and Connors (119).

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Novak Djokovic eyes sixth Rome title, Stefanos Tsitsipas seeks his first

Novak Djokovic at the 2022 Internazionali BNL D'Italia 2022 - Day Seven

Novak Djokovic has been a man on a mission in the Italian capital this week, not dropping a set in four matches.

Only against Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarterfinals on Friday did he appear in any semblance of trouble. He failed to serve out both sets and squandered a match point at 5-2 on Auger-Aliassime's serve in the second before recovering to win 7-5, 7-6(1).

In his three other matches, Djokovic hasn't lost more than four games in a set. He'll now take on the in-form Stefanos Tsitsipas on Sunday as he seeks his sixth title in Rome.

The Greek, meanwhile, has largely flown under the radar this season despite accumulating a tour-best 31-9 record and winning one title (Monte-Carlo Masters). After losing to Alexander Zverev in the Madrid semifinals last week, Tsitsipas exacted revenge against the German in the last four in Rome.

The World No. 5 is now into his first final in the Italian capital. In the process, he has joined Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic as the only active players to reach the final at all three Masters 1000 tournaments on clay (Monte-Carlo, Madrid, Rome).

Tsitispas is a two-time Monte-Carlo winner (2021-22), while he lost his lone Madrid final in 2019 to Djokovic. He'll hope for a different outcome against the Serb in his first Rome title match.