Djokovic beats Wawrinka to ease into Italian Open quarters

Novak Djokovic strolled into the Italian Open quarter-finals on Sunday with a routine 6-2, 6-2 win over Stan Wawrinka, while Iga Swiatek continued her bid for a fifth straight tournament victory by beating Victoria Azarenka. Chasing a sixth title in Rome, Djokovic took one hour, 16 minutes to get past his Swiss opponent without stretching himself and will now face Felix Auger-Aliassime in the last eight. Wawrinka, whose first-round victory over Reilly Opelka was his first win in 15 months, was no match for top seed Djokovic and beyond a few classic passing shots he offered little resistance.

The injury-hit 37-year-old, now ranked 361 in the world, beat Djokovic in finals to win two of his three Grand Slam titles, but has now lost 20 of their 26 career meetings. The only real moment of pressure for Djokovic was when Wawrinka broke serve in game six of the second set. However he failed to capitalise, double faulting at break point in the very next game to hand 20-time Grand Slam winner Djokovic a chance to serve for the match which he did not pass up.

Djokovic could face third seed Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals with the King of Clay set to face Canada's Denis Shapovalov on centre court. World number one Swiatek claimed her 25th straight victory, defeating Azarenka 6-4, 6-1 despite a rocky start. Swiatek, 20, is the favourite for the French Open which starts later this month and showed why in an impressive performance against Azarenka, herself a former top-ranked player and the two-time Australian Open winner.