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Djokovic denies Haas 500th career victory

Novak Djokovic is 51-1 against players outside the top-10 © PA Photos

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Novak Djokovic chalked up a world-leading 68th ATP Tour victory of the season, and denied Tommy Haas the 500th of his career, to reach the Shanghai Masters semi-finals on Friday.

Djokovic, who will have to wait to regain the world No. 1 spot after Roger Federer's win over Stanislas Wawrinka ensured he will spend another week at the top of the men's game, had too much subtlety for Haas in a 6-3 6-3 victory.

The year of 2012 has been highly impressive for Djokovic, only overlooked due to his sensational feats of the previous 12 months when he won three grand slam titles. The Serb has won more matches than any other player and he improved his record against players outside the top-10 to 51-1 with victory over Haas.

Unseeded German Haas had taken out Nicolas Almagro and Janko Tipsarevic - both seeds - to reach the least eight, but he instantly found himself under pressure on his first service game, eventually holding after being taken to deuce.

Djokovic did not let him off when he next got his teeth into his opponent's serve, setting up two break points with an incredible stretching forehand. Haas fought back to deuce but was broken at the third attempt for 4-2, before Djokovic served out for the set.

Haas was aiming to reach his first Masters 1000 semi-final for six years, while victory would also have seen him become the fourth man - alongside Federer, Rafael Nadal and Lleyton Hewitt - to chalk up 500 career wins.

He had beaten Djokovic on two previous occasions, so it was little surprise that he made a fight of it in the second, breaking for 2-0 after a lengthy rally. However, his advantage lasted less than five minutes as the world No. 2 broke straight back, and then punished the German's serve again for 3-2.

A further break gave Djokovic the cushion he craved to close out the match - which he did at the second time of asking, and he will now face Tomas Berdych in the last four. Berdych beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3 7-6(4) in a battle of two of the leading contenders for the four remaining spots at the ATP World Tour Finals in London.

All pre-match statistics pointed to a Berdych victory, with Tsonga 0-3 in Masters 1000 quarter-finals this year, and 0-6 against top-eight players. The Frenchman failed to halt that run as Berdych smeared a series of forehands past his rival in a strong outing.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.