It was the 31-year-old Serb's second comfortable win in the Gustavo Kuerten group and combined with Marin Cilic's 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-4 defeat of American John Isner later in the day, he sealed his place in the semi-finals at the year-ender for the eighth time.
'If I win the Australian Open, I will be the happiest person on the planet. I think that the (money) will be in much better use in the hands that know what to do with it, and know how to help others.'
World No 1 Rafael Nadal, who is hoping to recover from a knee injury to play in the season-ending showpiece, heads the other group and will face Belgian David Goffin, Bulgarian debutant Grigor Dimitrov and Austrian Dominic Thiem.
German seventh seed Alexander Zverev recovered from a slow start to beat former champion Stan Wawrinka 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in the Australian Open on Wednesday to reach his first career Grand Slam semi-final. Swiss Wawrinka, who won the first of his three Grand Slams at Melbourne Park in 2014, broke Zverev twice early in the opening set to breeze through the opening set but the 22-year-old German came roaring back into the contest.
Thousands of mask-free spectators flocked into the stadium
France, who were 2-0 up courtesy of Arthur Rinderknech and Adrian Mannarino, faced little resistance from Ecuador as wins for Benjamin Bonzi and the doubles pair of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicholas Mahut secured victory for the 10-times champions.
Three-time US Open champion Djokovic, who comes into the tournament having won his fifth Wimbledon title, is followed in the seedings by 2017 winner Rafael Nadal.
Zverev is also in fine form, having beaten world number one Novak Djokovic on his way to claiming the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo at the start of the month.
Djokovic will be nowhere near the centre court after losing his bid to overturn a second visa cancellation.
Austrian Dominic Thiem beat Kevin Anderson for the first time at the seventh attempt to reach the Madrid Open final for the second successive year on Saturday.
Nadal has traditionally started his French Open campaigns with at least one claycourt title under his belt but this year got to the French capital empty-handed.
Nadal, who would pass fellow Spaniard Andres Gimeno as the oldest Roland Garros men's singles champion if he wins, had to dig deep again in a three-hour slugfest in the semi-final against Alexander Zverev before the German was forced to retire mid-match after injuring his ankle.
Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori will meet in the semi-finals at the Citi Open in Washington on Saturday, their first encounter since the final of last year's US Open.
Organisers are confident a rain-hit opening day will not hold up the tournament.
Playing his first match since injuring his knee at Indian Wells last month, Nadal showed no signs of rust as he raced into a 5-0 lead in the first set on Court Rainier III.
Factbox on Austria's Dominic Thiem, who beat German Alexander Zverev 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(6) to win the US Open title on Sunday.
Jabeur advances to first WTA 100 final in Madrid in style.
'My arm has been -- I have had an issue there for quite a while now. It has gotten bigger in the last couple of weeks, so I'm just trying to protect it.'
Images from Day 4 of the 2021 French Open in Paris on Wednesday.
The 'Big Three' of men's tennis have found some "fresh energy" to thwart the charge of younger players on the tour, world number one Novak Djokovic said after setting up yet another title clash against his biggest rival against Rafael Nadal.
Andy Murray launched a fresh rocket at his US Open conqueror Stefanos Tsitsipas on Tuesday, griping that the Greek player took longer on bathroom breaks than it took billionaire Jeff Bezos to reach outer space.
Rafael Nadal is the oldest title winner in the history of the clay-court tournament.
Novak Djokovic will begin his Australian Open title defence against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, while reigning women's champion Sofia Kenin meets wild card Maddison Inglis, following the draw for the year's first Grand Slam on Friday.
This year's Australian Open will be allowed to admit up to 30,000 fans a day, around 50% of usual capacity, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Federer's hard-fought 6-7 (5), 7-6 (8), 10-7 victory over American John Isner put the Europeans just three points from their victory target and Zverev got them there with a 6-7 (3), 7-5, 10-7 win over Kevin Anderson.
Reaching ATP Finals like winning a tournament, says Zverev
Rafael Nadal's hopes of winning the year-ending ATP Finals for the first time live on after the Spaniard beat defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 on Thursday.
Friday's match was a straight shootout for a last-four place, with world number five Rublev the favourite having won his four previous matches against Ruud.
This year's ATP Finals boasts a fresh new
Djokovic withdraws from Western & Southern Open, to 'turn focus on US Open.'
Penpix of the top men's contenders at the 2021 Australian Open
IMAGES from Day 4 of the 2022 French Open at Roland Garros in Paris on Wednesday.
Rafael Nadal said on Saturday "too many questions" still needed to be answered concerning Novak Djokovic's bid to play at the Australian Open, while other leading players lamented how the saga had overshadowed the year's first Grand Slam.
Last week the men's ATP and the WTA, which runs women's events, issued revised calendars for the resumption of the circuit from August while organisers of the US Open said the Grand Slam will be staged without fans as scheduled from August 31 to September 13 in New York.
Images from Day 10 of the 2021 French Open at Roland Garros in Paris on Tuesday.
Novak Djokovic was eliminated from the Grand Slam after inadvertently hitting a ball into a line judge's throat during his fourth round match on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court.
10 Interesting Glimpses from the French Open.
'I didn't know few hours before I stepped on the court tonight whether I'm gonna play or not.'
Defending champion Simona Halep was knocked out of the French Open 6-2, 6-4 by 17-year-old American Amanda Anisimova in a quarter-final shock.
Team Europe's Nadal was scheduled to take on Team World's Nick Kyrgios in his singles clash before partnering Swiss Federer to face John Isner and Jack Sock.
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