No.2 seed Novak Djokovic will face fourth seed Tomas Berdych for a place in the 2012 Shanghai Rolex Masters on Saturday.
Djokovic will take a 9-1 lead against Berdych on Saturday when the pair meet.
“It’s always a big challenge when you're playing a top 10 player, especially when somebody who is an established one,” said Djokovic. “Tomas has been winning against top players on different surfaces in the last couple of years, so he knows how to play on a big stage and he knows how to play in big moments. It's going to be tough. But I've been playing well, too. So I'll try to look for my chances tomorrow from the baseline and see how it goes.”
Second seed Djokovic required 82 minutes to beat Tommy Haas 6-3, 6-3 in 82 minutes on Friday. It denied Haas the 500th match win of his career, but the German's run to the quarter-finals ensures that on Monday he will return into the Top 20 of the South African Airways ATP Rankings for the first time since 10 May 2010.
Djokovic converted five of his nine break points and hit four aces to improve to an ATP World Tour-best 68-11 match record on the season, which includes a 4-5 record in title matches.
“I've been winning a lot of matches [recently], so it's something that is always welcome when you want to have confidence, when you want to feel good about yourself on the court. Winning matches is the ultimate goal for every athlete.
My return games were exceptional. So it's something that gave me a lot of confidence today.”
On Saturday, Berdych will be looking to reach his fourth ATP World tour final of the year. The 27 year old captured his seventh career ATP World Tour title at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier (d. Monfils) in February and reached finals at the Mutua Madrid Open (l. to Federer) and Winston-Salem Open (l. to Isner after holding three match points).
"Today, I didn't play my best tennis," said Tsonga. "Unfortunately, today Tomas was a lot better than me." When asked about the differences between him and the Top 4, he admitted, "There is the difference that technically, I think, they're a bit better than me. I have to improve. They are also physically better than me. I'm working to join them."
