Novak Djokovic will remain world number one for the 370th week after the Serbian defeated Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-5, 7-6 and reached the semi-finals of the Italian Open in Rome on Friday.

It was their first meeting on the tour, and Felix erased the deficit in both sets, but Novak had to work hard at Foro Italico and edged the young Canadian in two hours and nine minutes.

“He’s got the lethal serve, honestly, one thing is to practice another thing is to play against someone in an official match. He’s also returning well, he’s moving well, he’s a very complete player. He did ask me to raise the level.” Djokovic said after the match.

The top seeded Serbian is through to his 13th Rome Masters semi-final and the 73rd at the Masters 1000 level. Djokovic will now play Casper Ruud on Saturday where he can claim his 1,000th career victory on the way to the final.

Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece advanced to the semis beating home favorite Jannick Sinner 7-6, 6-2 in Rome. Tsitsipas will next meet Alexander Zverev after the German sank Cristian Garin who was the only unseeded player left in the tournament, 7-5, 6-2.

It will be the third time in the space of a month that the German will meet the Greek in the semis at a clay-court ATP Masters 1000 event, with Tsitsipas prevailing in Monte Carlo and Zverev in Madrid.