Djokovic v Musetti – Olympic tennis men's singles semi-final – LIVE

Musetti has calmly watched Djoker battle himself but doesn’t take full advantage.

Another commanding lead on serve flitters away at 30-0 and the Serb earns another break point by pouncing on a drop shot to sweep away a crosscourt backhand winner.

Musetti is far too passive in the next rally and ends up trapped beyond his baseline as he drifts a tame backhand into the net to allow Novak to break straight back.

Nole may be a set to the good, but all is not well in the mind and world of the top seed.

He’s moody and agitated, perhaps with pain in his knee gnawing away at him, and he ends up screaming at himself as he falls 0-30 down.

A time violation for his propensity for serving beyond the conclusion of the shot clock only serves to irritate him further and a drop shot shocker and a wayward crosscourt forehand see him break himself.

Nole screams in agitation as a poor error by his standards eases the scoreboard pressure on Lorenzo in the first point of the game.

The No.11 seed then tracks down a drop shot to angle away a delicious backhand pick-up and he’s quickly 40-0 up and coasting.

However, the comfort zone can be a dangerous place and two cheap errors give Nole a sniff.

The Serb guesses right on what should be a put-away at the net and his block lob fortunately loops in, leaving Lorenzo to flash a Hollywood hot dog wide.

The pressure mounts at deuce and Musetti ends up trashing his racquet when he collapses from there to hand the set to his opponent.

Novak drops low to his right to pull off an exquisitely angled stun volley off a rapid backhand pass down the line, but then opens the door slightly with a horror smash at the second attempt that clips the net and flies wide.

A second serve ace down the T helps him to Pulp (30-30) and it’s all about Musetti’s backhand from there as he badly miss-times a shank off court before a high return off that wing lands well wide.

It’s the business end of the opener and the Serbinator knows it’s time to try and lock-in and turn the screw.

The top seed traps Musetti in his backhand wing before swooping forward to blast a forehand drive volley to the opposite corner and press at 15-30.

Lorenzo responds brilliantly, gunning the forehand with extra risk, but all the reward as he powers through three points in a row to dodge out of danger.

Djokovic turns to his team and jabs his racquet in there as Musetti’s defensive lob fails to make it back across the net and concludes a game to 15.

It’s not quite clear what that means but he’s moving very well out there. No sign of issues with the knee, although he may well be doing more damage to it under the disguise of pain-killers.

As much as Djokovic is clearly aiming to break down the one-handed backhand of Musetti, there’s also the game-plan of the Italian to engage in crosscourt forehand tussles, injecting pace when he can to crack what many see as the weaker wing of the Serbinator.

It pays off nicely here and when he throws in a couple of hefty first serves it allows him to canter through and tie the set again with a hold to 15.

After the drama and intensity of the previous two games, this one was all rather routine.

Djokovic happily gathers up the unforced backhand errors and then puts the seal on a love hold with a super 1-2 punch backhand down the line.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion goes from constant defence on serve to all-out attack on the return.

The Serb jumps all over his opponent’s second serve with deep, probing returns forcing a succession of errors from the Italian, before a crosscourt counter punch from his right wing on the stretch clocks up triple break point.

A big crosscourt forehand helps Lorenzo stave off one and he swats away a second with a backhand down the line to complement a clever dropper.

A brutal backhand crosscourt exchange ensues on the third but surprisingly it’s Nole who blinks as he drags into the tramlines.

The Serb refuses to let his opponent off the hook and there’s several pendulum swings of momentum around deuce where Musetti finds a clutch serve to save a FOURTH break point.

It takes some doing but a howitzer of a backhand sears the baseline to eventually drag the 22-year-old through a truly resilient hold.

Musetti plays with such panache when he’s on it and the danger for Nole is that the Italian’s artistry swells when he’s enjoying himself.

It’s the case here as he’s constantly on the attack.

A rasping forehand tees up a crisp wrong-footing pass and he’s at it again with a sublime dropper that provides the foundation for a scintillating backhand down the line.

The injection of pace into the forehand has caused Nole some issues already and it leads to a forced error for break point.

Lorenzo thinks he has it, but a crosscourt attempt gets a late ‘out’ call before a sliced backhand lob lands just long.

It’s been all hands to the pump for the top seed throughout this service game, but he claws his way through the next point to notch up a tough old hold.

On Eurosport Comms, Naomi Cavaday suggests we may be in for a treat with this one.

She’s not wrong as it’s bubbling away nicely.

Musetti scorches a lovely forehand pass on the run and then backs up a barrage of forehands with a nonchalant half volley after Nole had somehow retrieved a smash to his left corner.

Another whipped crosscourt forehand leaves the Serb stretching in vain again and the No.11 seed is on the board with an impressive hold to 15.

Musetti looks to test out Djokovic’s movement early on and it’s safe to say everything looks fine.

The Italian lands a special crosscourt forehand return winner but slaps an exhibition behind-the-back volley long to trail 40-15.

A flurry of pacy forehands force the errors to pose a question at deuce, but Nole answers it as the Italian slices wide at a moment where he’d have wanted to avoid giving anything away too cheaply.

Djokovic will serve first.

The loser will take on the Canadian in the Bronze Medal match.

This is their eighth meeting with Novak leading the match-up 6-1.

Musetti’s solitary win came on the clay of Monte Carlo in 2023 and the Italian has pushed Nole all the way in two five-setters at RG (2021 and 2024) with Djoker having to come from behind in each match to prevail.

Hello and welcome to LIVE updates of the second men’s singles Olympic semi finals between Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti.

The players are on court from 18:00 BST.