Shanghai Masters: Novak Djokovic beats Jakub Mensik and reacts to Rafael Nadal’s retirement

Serbia’s Djokovic has received 24 Grand Slam titles – a males’s report – and secured a long-awaited Olympic gold earlier this yr.

The 37-year-old will face American world quantity seven Taylor Fritz in Saturday’s semi-final as he bids for a historic one centesimal title.

Fritz, 26, beat Belgium’s David Goffin 6-3 6-4 on Friday to e book his place within the final 4. It prolonged the run that noticed Fritz progress previous the third spherical for the primary time in Shanghai.

Djokovic, who’s about to run within the 78th semi-final of the Masters 1,000, stated he was impressed by the video games they may play with the subsequent technology.

“It retains me going, and it pushes me to dig deeper, and present the world that I nonetheless have it in my legs, that I can nonetheless go a good distance with the fellows,” he stated.

“I’m very completely happy that I used to be capable of win this very difficult recreation.”

Mensik, 19, held his nerve whereas taking part in with Djokovic.

However Djokovic, a report four-time winner of the event, managed to rally after a break down and stormed into the second set, earlier than placing the match to relaxation after two hours and 21 minutes.

Whereas US Open runner-up Fritz might present a tricky check for Djokovic, the embellished veteran holds a 9-0 profession report of their earlier conferences.