Push Admin

Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates after winning the final match of the Men's Italian Open against Argentina's Diego Schwartzman at Foro Italico on September 21, 2020 in Rome, Italy. Clive Brunskill, AFP/File

Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates after winning the final match of the Men's Italian Open against Argentina's Diego Schwartzman at Foro Italico on September 21, 2020 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Clive Brunskill / POOL / AFP)

Article (news)

Serbia's Novak Djokovic

Agence France-Presse

<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1712982179135tennis_Novak Djokovic_AFP.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Serbia&#x27;s Novak Djokovic celebrates after winning the final match of the Men&#x27;s Italian Open against Argentina&#x27;s Diego Schwartzman at Foro Italico on September 21, 2020 in Rome, Italy. Clive Brunskill, AFP/File"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Serbia&#x27;s Novak Djokovic celebrates after winning the final match of the Men&#x27;s Italian Open against Argentina&#x27;s Diego Schwartzman at Foro Italico on September 21, 2020 in Rome, Italy. <em>Clive Brunskill, AFP/File</em></span></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">MONTE CARLO, Principality Of Monaco -- Novak Djokovic reached a record 77th Masters semi-final on Friday when he defeated Australia&#x27;s Alex de Minaur in straight sets in Monte Carlo as in-form Jannik Sinner racked up his 25th victory of the year.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">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 in the principality for the first time since 2015 when he went on to claim his second title at the tournament.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">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&#x27;s championship match.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;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&#x27;t,&quot; said Djokovic who avenged his loss to De Minaur at the United Cup in January.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;He did not surprise me with several passing shots. Particularly in the second set when I was up a break.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;But he said at the net it was ugly. The second set I think it was. We didn&#x27;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.&quot;</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/2024/4/10/djokovic-feeling-great-in-monte-carlo-as-alcaraz-withdraws-injured-1601"></a><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/2024/4/10/djokovic-feeling-great-in-monte-carlo-as-alcaraz-withdraws-injured-1601">READ: Djokovic &#x27;feeling great&#x27; in Monte Carlo as Alcaraz withdraws injured</a></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Saturday&#x27;s other semi-final sees Australian Open champion and world number two Jannik Sinner face two-time Monte Carlo winner Stefanos Tsitsipas.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Sinner took his 2024 record to 25 wins and just one loss with a grueling 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 victory over 2023 runner-up Holger Rune.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Greek 12th seed Tsitsipas breezed past Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-4, 6-2.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Djokovic had appeared on course for a comfortable afternoon under the sweltering Riviera sun against 11th seeded De Minaur.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">After pocketing the first set, he was quickly 2-0 ahead in the second.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">However, 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.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Djokovic 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.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Sinner kept his cool as Rune lost his in a two-hour 40-minute marathon.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Rune, who will drop out of the top 10 next week, was warned by the chair umpire for unsporting behavior after a sarcastic gesture to the crowd in the second set.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><strong>- Rune &#x27;chaos&#x27; -</strong></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">He was booed even more when he sat down and demanded the supervisor be called.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The 20-year-old Dane regained his composure, saving two match points to take the tie to a decider.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">However, 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.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;One can try and create a little bit of chaos,&quot; said Sinner of Rune&#x27;s antics.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;That is no problem. I learned from last year. That is all part of the learning process.&quot;</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Tsitsipas, winner of the Monte Carlo title in 2021 and 2022, needed just 81 minutes to record his eighth win in nine meetings against Khachanov.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;I was very effective from the start, I had a lot of pace and gained momentum,&quot; said Tsitsipas.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;I tried to do my part and press and it worked out really well.&quot;</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Tsitsipas added: &quot;There are many good memories here and stepping out and coming back revives those good memories. It brings me alive.&quot;</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Eighth-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.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Ruud 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.</span></div><div><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></span></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div>

<p>Novak Djokovic reached a record 77th Masters semi-final on Friday when he defeated Australia's Alex de Minaur in straight sets in Monte Carlo as in-form Jannik Sinner racked up his 25th victory of the year.</p>

Novak Djokovic reached a record 77th Masters semi-final on Friday when he defeated Australia's Alex de Minaur in straight sets in Monte Carlo as in-form Jannik Sinner racked up his 25th victory of the year.

Tennis: Djokovic into record 77th Masters semi-final at Monte Carlo as Sinner shines

News

Entertainment

Lifestyle

Sports

Metro.Style

More

Traffic

Manila

Horoscope

Sports

Tennis: Djokovic into record 77th Masters semi-final at Monte Carlo as Sinner shines

Agence France-Presse

Published Apr 13, 2024 12:25 PM PHT

Read More:

abssports

tennis

Monte Carlo Masters

Novak Djokovic

Alex de Minaur

Jannik Sinner

Stefanos Tsitsipas

ABS-CBN is the leading media and entertainment company in the Philippines, offering quality content across TV, radio, digital, and film. Committed to public service and promoting Filipino values, ABS-CBN continues to inspire and connect audiences worldwide.

Corporate

Investors

Governance

International Distribution

Corporate

Governance

Investors

International Distribution

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

AI Policy

Terms of Service

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.