Serbian tennis ace Novak Djokovic, reached his 77th Masters semi-final on Friday by defeating Australia's Alex de Minaur in straight sets at Monte Carlo.
According to BBC, Djokovic, aged 36 ,who is currently ranked world No. 1 in singles by the association of tennis professionals, won a close quarter-final match 7-5, 6-4, securing his spot in the semi-finals for the first time since 2015.
Djokovic said, “It was tough for both of us. He is one of the quickest players on tour. He gets a lot of balls back that normally 99 percent of other players don't.”
“He did surprise me with several passing shots”, he added.
“We didn't play at the high level and made a lot of unforced errors, him and I, and a lot of breaks of serve. It is kind of expected on clay but maybe not this many. But a win is a win and I am happy to be through”, he further added.
Djokovic will play against Casper Ruud of Norway in the semi-finals for a chance to play in Sunday’s Championship match.
Meanwhile, Jannik Sinner, the Italian second seed, defeated Holger Rune 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 to advance to the semi-finals, where he will face Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Sinner, who won the Australian Open earlier this year, has reached the semi-finals in all three ATP Masters 1000 events this season.
Djokovic, the 24-time Grand Slam champion, expressed doubts about his performance level after his quarter-final win over Lorenzo Musetti.
However, he has not dropped a set on his way to his first Monte Carlo semi-final since 2015, when he won the tournament.
After that, Djokovic became the oldest semi-finalist in the tournament's history by defeating Alex de Minaur.
