Djokovic & Federer 25th meeting in Rome semis

ROME, ITALY - World No. 1 and reigning champion Novak Djokovic, Swiss icon Roger Federer and five-time winner Rafael Nadal were a trio of quarterfinal victors Friday at the $3.145 million Italian Open -- the fifth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event of the year.


Djokovic straight-setted fifth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-5, 6-1 in a rematch of the 2008 Australian Open final, which was also won by the super Serb.


The reigning Aussie Open, U.S. Open and Wimbledon champion Djokovic dismissed Tsonga in 1 hour, 23 minutes with the help of five service breaks on Day 6.


The two-time Italian Open champion Djokovic beat Nadal in last year's finale and lost to Nadal in the 2009 title tilt here.


Djokovic will meet Federer in Saturday's semifinals.


Fresh off his big Masters title in Madrid last week, a third-seeded Federer handled Italian Andreas Seppi 6-1, 6-2 in just 54 minutes.


The former French Open champion and 2011 Roland Garros runner-up Federer improved to 9-0 all-time against Seppi.


The two-time Rome runner-up Federer moved up to No. 2 in the world on Monday after prevailing on the unusual blue clay surface last week in Madrid for his ATP-record-tying 20th Masters title.


The Italian favorite Seppi was a surprise titlist in Belgrade two weeks ago.


torontosun.com

The Fed man is on fire, and there's no stopping him.  Hope he can give Djokovic the boot (I'm biased;).