Novak Djokovic kept his quest for title No. 100 alive on Friday by rallying for a three-set win against Czech teenager Jakub Mensik in the quarterfinals of the Rolex Shanghai Masters.
The fourth-seeded Serbian star survived a 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-4 scare from the 19-year-old Mensik before advancing in two hours, 19 minutes.
“We went toe-to-toe until the last moment,” Djokovic said. “I was fortunate to find great serves in the last game, a couple of aces, that helps. I didn’t serve that well at the end of the first set when I was serving for it. He managed to turn things around by playing a good tiebreak.
“I stayed collected and started off very well in the second (set). I felt that we both had a physical crisis at the beginning of the set. We pushed each other a lot, a lot of long rallies. (It was) a tough battle.”
Djokovic withstood 17 aces from an opponent nearly half his age, but the 24-time Grand Slam winner also finished with 26 unforced errors compared to 43 for Mensik.
“I haven’t trained with him for a year and a half, so I could see today why he is one of the best servers we have in the game,” Djokovic said. “He is only 19, the future is very bright for him. He knows that I am always there for him, whatever he needs.
“Jakub is somebody that I have been following for the last three or four years, ever since he played the finals of junior Australian Open. We like playing each other, we raise the level when we face each other. We’ve played a lot of practice sets and it’s always fun.”
At 37, Djokovic becomes the oldest ATP Masters 1000 semifinalist not named Roger Federer in series history (since 1990).
He will face seventh-seeded Taylor Fritz, who cruised to a 6-3, 6-4 win over Belgium’s David Goffin in an 82-minute quarterfinal match.
Fritz struck 10 aces and saved three of four break points while finishing with nearly twice as many winners (23-12) as Goffin, advancing to his fifth Masters 1000 semifinal.
“I feel like sometimes it takes a couple of matches to find my routines, to find what feels good and what is working for me,” Fritz said. “I feel like once I get past the first two rounds, I feel very locked in. I’ve come this far already, so I might as well really dial it in and I’m just enjoying being here.”
Saturday’s other semifinal pits top-seeded Jannik Sinner of Italy against No. 30 Tomas Machac of Chile.
–Field Level Media
