Novak Djokovic took his place in the Italian Open semi-finals on Friday with a 7-5, 7-6 (7/1) win over Felix Auger-Aliassime which guaranteed that he would remain world number one for a 370th week.
Top seed Djokovic is chasing a sixth title in Rome ahead of Roland Garros later this month, and needed more than two hours to win a match which featured some magnificent tennis from big-hitting Auger-Aliassime.
Canada's Auger-Aliassime crashed in serves of over 200km/h, hitting 11 aces, and showed a wide range of bold shots in his first ever match against 20-time Grand Slam winner Djokovic.
The 21-year-old, who won his first ATP tournament in Rotterdam in February, even went toe-to-toe in rallies with Djokovic, drawing applause from the Serb early in the match with one particularly deft drop shot.
"He's got the lethal serve, honestly, one thing is to practice another thing is to play against someone in an official match... It was not easy at all for me to return," Djokovic said after the match.
"He's also returning well, he's moving well, he's a very complete player. He did ask me to raise the level."
