Novak Djokovic books last-four place at Geneva Open

Novak Djokovic celebrates victory over Tallon Griekspoor (Martial Trezzini/AP) (AP)

Novak Djokovic battled into the semi-finals of the Geneva Open with victory over Tallon Griekspoor.

The world number one took a wild card into the Swiss event after an early defeat at the Italian Open and has achieved his objective of getting more matches under his belt.

Djokovic’s 7-5 6-1 victory over sixth seed Griekspoor could have turned out differently had the Dutchman taken his chances.

Griekspoor, ranked 27, had four set points on the Djokovic serve at 5-4 in the opener, including three in a row from 0-40, but could not take any of them.

Djokovic eventually held serve and then ran away with the contest, winning eight of the next nine games.

“Great win,” said the 37-year-old. “I thought in the first set it could have gone his way easily because I think he was the better player. We could have been having a completely different direction of the match if he converted those set points.

“I was lucky to find some really good serves and from that moment onwards I really played some good, solid tennis. He did help me a bit with mistakes, but I think the second set was really good.”

Djokovic will take on Czech Tomas Machac in the last four as he bids to reach his first final of the season.