Italian Open: Novak Djokovic reaches final after comfortable win over Dominic Thiem

Novak Djokovic reached just his second final of the calendar year after defeating Dominic Thiem in the semi-final of the Italian Open on Saturday (20 May).

The Serbian ace comfortably won 6-1, 6-0 in less than an hour against Thiem, who had beaten tournament favourite Rafael Nadal in the quarter-final.

Djokovic, who had beaten Juan Martin del Potro 6-1, 6-4 earlier in the day due to rain from the previous day, played his second match as there were no signs of fatigue with the world number two completely dominating Thiem who never found his rhythm.

Following his victory, Djokovic spoke about how it was undoubtedly his best performance in ages.

"Undoubtedly the best performance of this year and maybe even longer', Novak Djokovic said, as quoted on Tennis World USA."Yeah, I mean, what can I say? I'm overjoyed and happy with every minute that I spent on the court today, even with Del Potro and also now with Thiem."

"It was a perfect match. Everything that I intended to do, I have done it and even more. So there's not much to say except that I am so grateful to experience something like this, because I have been waiting for it and working for it for a long time."

Djokovic has a chance to win his second title of 2017 following his January win in Qatar and victory in Italy could be springboard to turning around his calendar year form, especially ahead of the French Open.

He will now face 20-year-old Alexander Zverev in the final, who beat John Isner in his semi-final match-up.

"Of course I would love to win the trophy, and I'm going to go out on the court giving my everything in order to do that," Djokovic added. "He's [Zverev] been playing some very impressive tennis on the surface that I thought will suit him the least, but he's proven many people wrong. I mean, he's won his first title in Munich some weeks ago, won against some very good players in Madrid and again here."

"Yeah, he's in a great form. He's 20 years old. His life and career are ahead of him. Of course I can relate to what he's feeling right now. I have been in his shoes. I know how excited you feel before your first final of a big tournament."

Meanwhile, Simona Halep booked her place in the women's final after a 7-5, 6-1 win over Holland's Kiki Bertens.

She will face Ukraine's Elina Svitolina in the final on Sunday (21 May) after advancing due to Garbiñe Muguruza retiring 22 minutes into their semi-final match.