Norway
\nNovak Djokovic reached a record 77th Masters semi-final on Friday when he defeated Australia\u2019s Alex de Minaur in straight sets in Monte Carlo as in-form Jannik Sinner racked up his 25th victory of the year.
\nDjokovic, the 36-year-old world number one came through a rollercoaster quarter-final to win 7-5, 6-4 and make the last-four in the principality for the first time since 2015 when he went on to claim his second title at the tournament. Djokovic, the oldest man to make the Monte Carlo semi-finals in the Open Era, will take on Casper Ruud of Norway for a place in Sunday\u2019s championship match.
\n\u201cIt 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\u2019t,\u201d said Djokovic who avenged his loss to De Minaur at the United Cup in January.
\n\u201cHe did not surprise me with several passing shots. Particularly in the second set when I was up a break.
\n\u201cBut he said at the net it was ugly. The second set I think it was. We didn\u2019t 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.\u201d
\nSaturday\u2019s other semi-final sees Australian Open champion and world number two Jannik Sinner face two-time Monte Carlo winner Stefanos Tsitsipas.
\nSinner took his 2024 record to 25 wins and just one loss with a gruelling 6-4, 6-7 (6\/8), 6-3 victory over 2023 runner-up Holger Rune.
\nGreek 12th seed Tsitsipas breezed past Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-4, 6-2.
\nDjokovic had appeared on course for a comfortable afternoon under the sweltering Riviera sun against 11th seeded De Minaur.
\nAfter pocketing the first set, he was quickly 2-0 ahead in the second.
\nHowever, five successive breaks of serve followed as the top seed saw leads of 3-1 and 4-2 retrieved by his opponent who clawed back to 4-4.
\nDjokovic held for 5-4 and secured his fifth break of the match in the 10th game to claim victory in just over two hours and move two wins away from a 41st career Masters title.
\nSinner kept his cool as Rune lost his in a two-hour 40-minute marathon.
\nRune, who will drop out of the top 10 next week, was warned by the chair umpire for unsporting behaviour after a sarcastic gesture to the crowd in the second set.
\nRune \u2018chaos\u2019
\nHe was booed even more when he sat down and demanded the supervisor be called.
\nThe 20-year-old Dane regained his composure, saving two match points to take the tie to a decider.
\nHowever, Sinner moved smartly into his fifth semi-final of 2024, gaining revenge for his loss to Rune in the last-four in Monte Carlo 12 months ago.
\n\u201cOne can try and create a little bit of chaos,\u201d said Sinner of Rune\u2019s antics.
\n\u201cThat is no problem. I learned from last year. That is all part of the learning process.\u201d
\nTsitsipas, winner of the Monte Carlo title in 2021 and 2022, needed just 81 minutes to record his eighth win in nine meetings against Khachanov.
\n\u201cI was very effective from the start, I had a lot of pace and gained momentum,\u201d said Tsitsipas.
\n\u201cI tried to do my part and press and it worked out really well.\u201d
\nTsitsipas added: \u201cThere are many good memories here and stepping out and coming back revives those good memories. It brings me alive.\u201d
\nEighth-seeded Ruud saw off 14th seed Ugo Humbert of France 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 to make the semi-finals in Monte Carlo for the second time.
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\nRuud will look to overturn a 5-0 losing record against Djokovic on Saturday, a dismal run which includes a straight-sets defeat to the Serb in the French Open final last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Norway Novak Djokovic reached a record 77th Masters semi-final on Friday when he defeated Australia\u2019s Alex de Minaur in straight sets in Monte Carlo as in-form Jannik Sinner racked up his 25th victory of the year. Djokovic, the 36-year-old world number one came through a rollercoaster quarter-final to win 7-5, 6-4 and make the last-four […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256673,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-399921","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n