Devastating Djokovic breezes into Halle semi-finals

Halle (Germany):

World number four Novak Djokovic cruised into the Halle grasscourt semi-finals while Tommy Haas set up an all-German clash with Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Having had to fight off five match points against France's Florent Serra in Thursday's second round tie, Serbia's Djokovic improved dramatically to blitz Austria's Jurgen Melzer 6-1, 6-4 in their quarter-final on Friday.

"It was quite a relief after two not-so-convincing performances in the previous rounds," admitted Djokovic. "I was in control, I just lost a break in the second set, but I managed to break him straight back for 4-4 and I was moving much better around the court."

He raced through the first set in less than 30 minutes as the hapless Austrian - the only other seed left in the draw - made a succession of errors.

Melzer rallied in the second and broke Djokovic to take a 4-3 lead, but the Serb rallied again and served out the match to claim victory in just over an hour.

In today's semi-final, he will now play Belgian qualifier Olivier Rochus, ranked 136th in the world.

"I haven't played him for a while and he beat me in the last match we had which was a few years ago," said Djokovic.

"His game is well suited for grass courts and although I might be the favourite on paper, I wouldn't put myself in that category.