Novak Djokovic loses his cool again during win in Italian Open

ROME: Less than two weeks after getting defaulted from the U.S. Open, Novak Djokovic lost his cool again midway through a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win over German qualifier Dominik Koepfer in the Italian Open quarterfinals on Saturday.

When Djokovic was broken at love to even the second set at 3-3, he slammed his racket to the red clay in anger.

With the frame broken and the strings all mangled, Djokovic was forced to get a new racket and received a warning from the chair umpire.

Djokovic had already appeared frustrated the previous game, when he glared toward the umpire following a couple of overrules and a point that was ordered to be replayed.

The top-ranked Djokovic had said on Monday that he learned "a big lesson" after he was thrown out of the U.S. Open for unintentionally hitting a line judge in the throat with a ball in a fit of anger. Djokovic also acknowledged then "that I have outbursts and this is kind of the personality and the player that I have always been."

The 97th-ranked Koepfer, who screamed at himself in frustration throughout the match, was also warned for misbehavior early in the third set.

Aiming for his fifth title in Rome, Djokovic's semifinal opponent will be Casper Ruud, who eliminated local favorite Matteo Berrettini 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) in a match that lasted 2 hours, 57 minutes.

In women's section, top-seeded Simona Halep became the first semifinalist when Kazakh opponent Yulia Putintseva retired midway through their match due to a lower back injury. Halep was ahead 6-2, 2-0 when Putintseva decided she was in too much pain to continue — having already taken an off-court medical timeout between sets.

Halep, who lost two straight finals in Rome to Elina Svitolina in 2017 and 2018, will face two-time Grand Slam winner Garbine Muguruza who beat US Open runner-up Victoria Azarenka 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Agencies

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