Novak Djokovic vs Felix Auger-Aliassime Prediction: Another 2:0 by the No. 1 in the World

The quarterfinals of the Rome Masters will end with a match between Novak Djokovic and Felix Auger-Aliassime. Surprisingly, the men have not yet crossed their paths, but bookmakers have little doubt about the Serb's victory.

Djokovic in Rome fully confirms our expectations. The Serb started with the defeat of Karatsev, followed by a confident victory over the seasoned Swiss Wawrinka. That match lasted only one hour and 16 minutes, with Novak winning 6-2, 6-2. He fired twice with zero double faults and won 75% of the points on his first serve and 50% on his second. On reception, Djokovic won 42% on Wawrinka's first serve and 64% on his second. Novak needs to reach the semifinals in Rome to retain his ATP No. 1 position. After Nadal's elimination and Alcaraz's withdrawal, Djokovic has a good chance for the title.

It's great to see Stan back. He won two tough matches and you could see he's not physically where he wants to be. But, nevertheless, he's Stan Wawrinka, he can hurt you if you give him time and I managed to do well I think. From the beginning I really moved him around the court and held my serve pretty comfortably, except that loss of serve in the second set. I managed to do well from the start. I actually swung him on the court and kept my serve with ease apart from losing my serve in the second set.

Djokovic after beating Wawrinka

Unlike most tennis players, Auger-Aliassime began the clay season in early April, in Marrakech. In general, Rome is his sixth ground tournament of the season. So far, the Canadian player has no great success, but there is excellent playing practice. In Madrid, Felix went two rounds, knocking out Garin and Sinner, two quarterfinalists at the Rome Masters, but lost to Zverev. In Rome the Canadian outplayed Davidovich Fokina and Giron. The match against the Spaniard consisted of three sets, and the duel with the American of two.

It’s a great win. Great for my confidence to be able to spend three hours on the clay. Very encouraging for what’s to come here and in Paris. I feel good physically. I was able to battle it out with one of the best young clay-court players we have in the game right now. He’s not playing this way by accident. He’s playing really well consistently, so it’s a great win for me. At the end of the first set I went for a slide forehand and something tweaked in my back. I just felt a sharp pain, so I thought it would be good to get some treatment, some medication. But after it felt okay. It’s not the best, but it feels good.

Auger-Aliassime after beating Davidovich Fokina

Auger-Aliassime is currently a top-10 player in the world ranking, but he's not the best on the clay. Still, the Canadian practiced a lot on the clay, he played his sixth tournament on such court. But Djokovic, after his setback in Belgrade and a mere semifinal in Madrid, is fully motivated for the Rome title. Most importantly, the Serb is in great shape, as we saw in his games against Karatsev and Wawrinka. Auger-Aliassime will probably cause more problems for Novak than his two previous opponents. However, we doubt the Canadian will have the guts to win even a set against the world number one. We don't think it will be a long match

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