Djokovic beats Seppi to reach Vienna final

VIENNA, Oct 13 (Reuters) Novak Djokovic reached his seventh final of the year by beating unseeded Italian Andreas Seppi 6-4 6-3 at the Vienna Open today.

The top-seeded Serbian will next face either Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain or Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka, who were playing later today.

Djokovic showed no signs of fatigue following his marathon quarter-final win over Juan Ignacio Chela late on Friday, during which he fought off two match points.

However, he still had difficulty shaking off a persistent opponent who had already dismissed eighth seed Marcos Baghdatis and defending champion Ivan Ljubicic in straight sets.

After an early exchange of breaks, both players continued to face break points but it was Djokovic who made the most of his opportunities when he broke for the set when Seppi sent a forehand long.

Djokovic enjoyed some good fortune in the second set when the Italian surrendered his serve after leading 40-0 to give Djokovic a 3-1 lead but the Serbian had to fight hard to maintain his advantage.

He needed seven game points to hold for 4-1 and after a double fault gave Seppi a break point at 4-2 he fought his way out of trouble with a fine crosscourt winner that had the crowd roaring their approval.

REUTERS TB BST2048