Italian Open: Novak Djokovic beats Roger Federer to title

The pair went toe-to-toe in the opening <g data-gr-id="46">set</g> but Serbia’s Djokovic broke in the 10th game to seal it.

Full of confidence, he broke Federer early in the second set and the Swiss player never recovered from that.

Djokovic soon set up two match points and sealed his fourth Rome title when a Federer forehand went wide.

It makes it 22 consecutive wins for the Serb and he will go into the French Open, which starts next Monday, in confident mood. Earlier, Swiss No. 2 Roger Federer handily won his Italian Open semifinal showdown here against countryman Stanislas Wawrinka, cruising to a 6-4, 6-2 victory in less than an hour, media reported on Sunday.

Federer had the mental edge coming into the contest on center court at the Foro Italico, having won 15 of their previous 17 matches, and he leveraged that history to his advantage.

Wawrinka, who was far from the level he displayed in knocking off Spanish seven-time champion Rafael Nadal in straight sets on Friday, stayed even early in the match but his level plummeted after being broken for the second time late in the first set and Federer took full advantage.

The No. 8 seed, who said the win over Nadal was a big confidence-booster, was not even competitive in the second set, winning just 10 of the 35 points played.

The Swiss 17-time Grand Slam champion will be seeking his fourth title of the season and first-ever winner’s trophy in Rome when he squares off Sunday afternoon against Serbian top seed and world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who defeated Spain’s David Ferrer 6-4, 6-4 in Saturday’s first semifinal

Federer, a three-time finalist, and three-time champion Djokovic have been top challengers at the Italian Open for more than a decade, but Sunday will be the first Rome final between these two all-time greats.