Novak Djokovic beats Casper Ruud to complete 1000 Tour-level wins
He will face Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final on Sunday as he seeks his first trophy of the season
ROME: Novak Djokovic of Serbia has become the fifth man to win 1,000 Tour-level matches after he defeated Casper Ruud in the semi-finals of the Italian Open.
He joins Jimmy Connors, Roger Federer, Ivan Lendl, and Rafael Nadal in breaking the record.
Organisers later honoured the 34-year-old, who won his first ATP Tour match in 2004, with a cake decorated with the number 1,000.
"I am blessed and privileged to have that many victories," Djokovic said post-match.
"Seeing Roger and Rafa celebrate these milestones in the last couple of years, I was looking forward to getting to that milestone myself.
"It is a long time since I won my first match on Tour. Hopefully, I can keep going and there are many more victories to come," he added.
The world number one got 1,000 victories faster than competitor Federer, but it took two more games than Nadal and was also slower than Connors and Lendl.
Djokovic had to fight hard at times against Norwegian Ruud but came out on top 6-4 6-3.
He will face Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final on Sunday as he seeks his first trophy of the season.
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