MASON, Ohio, Aug 17 (Reuters) - World number two Novak
Djokovic has a shot at revenge against Juan Martin del Potro,
who ended the Serb's medal hopes at the London Olympics, when
the two clash in the Cincinnati Open semi-finals on Saturday.
Djokovic, who lost to former U.S. Open winner Del Potro in
the Olympic bronze medal match less than two weeks ago, enjoyed
a routine 6-3 6-2 victory over 12th seeded Croatian Marin Cilic
on Friday to advance.
"It was my best match so far here in this tournament and
came in the right moment, really," said Djokovic, who had an
easy passage to the last eight after Russian Nikolay Davydenko
retired injured during their Thursday match.
"I had the biggest challenge today with Cilic who has been
playing well the last couple of months and I played a really
good match."
The five-times grand slam winner may have added incentive on
Saturday given Serbia's Davis Cup semi-final loss to Argentina
last year in which Djokovic retired against Del Potro.
"All these losses made me stronger and, yes, they are
difficult, especially when you're playing for a country and when
you're in Olympic Games and we're fighting for bronze medal,"
said Djokovic.
"He won that match. It happens. It's a sport. You lose, you
win, but the most important thing is to try to move on and
become even better and even stronger from those experiences and
try to win."
Del Potro overcame the surprise player of the tournament,
Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, who entered the draw as a lucky loser
and reached the quarter-finals thanks to wins over American Andy
Roddick and Olympic champion Andy Murray.
The tall Argentine needed just 76 minutes to make sure
Chardy's run stopped, surrendering only 12 points on serve and
breaking Chardy four times in a 6-1 6-3 rout.
In other quarter-final action, Switzerland's Stanislas
Wawrinka faces Canadian Milos Raonic, while world number one
Roger Federer goes against American Mardy Fish.
(Editing by Frank Pingue)