NOVAK DJOKOVIC progressed to the semi-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters by trouncing US Open champion Marin Cilic 6-0, 6-3 in 65 minutes.
The world No.1 won the first eight games before Cilic, the eighth seed, eventually managed to hold serve.
Top seed Djokovic, 27, bidding to win a third Masters title in a row, said that he was probably playing the best tennis of his career.
The Serb will play Rafael Nadal - who had to fight all the way to beat fellow-Spaniard David Ferrer 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 - in the last four.
"It was a very good match for me," said Djokovic, who hit 15 winners and broke Cilic five times in an impressive display. "The week began in the best way for me and I hope to continue like this."
Elsewhere, Frenchman Gael Monfils reached his first semi-final in Monte Carlo by beating Grigor Dimitrov, who had knocked out defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka.
"For sure I'm surprised because this is not a period where I've played my best tennis so far," said the Frenchman after his 6-1, 6-3 victory.
Monfils, whose previous best in the principality was reaching the third round, will play Czech Tomas Berdych in the semi-finals.
Berdych's opponent, Milos Raonic, retired hurt with a foot injury, but the sixth seed was in total control prior to the Canadian's withdrawal, hitting 10 winners and breaking twice to lead 5-2 in the first set.
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article