Djokovic impresses in testing win over Arnaldi to reach semi-finals at Geneva Open

Novak Djokovic, the second seed, defeated Italian Matteo Arnaldi, the No 8 seed, 6-4, 6-4 to move into the last four of the Geneva Open at Tennis Club de Genève, Parc des Eaux-Vives.

On his 38th birthday, the 24-time Grand Slam champion kept alive his latest mission to reach a milestone 100 ATP titles.

But he was made to work hard by Arnaldi, who knocked Djokovic out of the Madrid Open last month but could not repeat the feat in Geneva.

A single break of serve in the third game was enough for the Serb to clinch a close opening set, as he shut out his opponent impressively with some excellent serving.

However, the Italian finally broke through in the fourth game of the second set to move 4-1 up with Djokovic beginning to look increasingly rattled.

But after breaking a racquet – something which clearly helped the Serb get rid of some of the building tension – Djokovic then won the next five games on the spin to sprint to the finish line and avoid being pulled into a deciding set.

Djokovic, ranked No 6, will face the winner of the match between Australian Alexei Popyrin, the No 5 seed, and qualifier Cameron Norrie next.

The 38-year-old Serb won against Hungarian Marton Fucsovics (6-2, 6-3) ahead of his victory.

In the previous rounds of the Geneva tournament, Arnaldi, ranked No 39, edged out Frenchman Hugo Gaston (6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-4) and beat Hungarian Fabian Marozsan (6-3, 7-6 (3)).

Geneva ATP 250, other last-eight results (Tennis Club de Genève, Parc des Eaux-Vives, clay, EUR 596.035, most recent results first):

• Alexei Popyrin vs. Cameron Norrie
• Hubert Hurkacz (6) beat Taylor Fritz (1): 6-3, 7-6 (5)
• Sebastian Ofner (Q) beat Karen Khachanov (4): 4-6, 6-4, 6-4