Still without a title this year after a first quarter almost at a standstill due to his non-vaccination against Covid, the Serb had to work against a combative Ruud.
He joined the very closed club of players with 1,000 victories on the ATP circuit, which also includes Jimmy Connors (record holder with 1,274 successes), Roger Federer, Ivan Lendl and Rafael Nadal.
"Let's go for another 1,000!" smiled the Serb, receiving a cake bearing this symbolic number after the match.
"It's been a long time since I won a match on the circuit, I hope to continue," added the 34-year-old.
In the absence of Rafael Nadal, emperor with ten Roman coronations eliminated in the eighth, and Carlos Alcaraz, a phenomenon at rest with a view to Roland-Garros (May 22-June 5), Djokovic will therefore not have failed in reaching the final without conceding sets.
He will play Sunday against the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (5th) his twelfth final on Roman clay (with five victories in 2008, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2020), the fourth in a row.
After a fairly simple start to the match, launched by two breaks and a comfortable 4-0 lead, the result was largely complicated against the Norwegian finalist a few weeks ago at the Masters 1000 in Miami.
Broken in turn, Djokovic was overtaken by the tension in a match interrupted twice by a fire alarm which went off in the stadium.
Despite everything, he ensured the win of the set then was able to be patient in the second to break in the seventh game.
Djokovic-Tsitsipas will be a rematch of the final of the last edition of Roland-Garros, won by the Serb after a battle in five sets.
"Nole" leads 6 wins to 2 against the Greek, who has always lost against him on the ochre.
© 2022 AFP