Novak Djokovic won a big tennis match in Monte Carlo. It was his 77th time making it to the semi-finals in a tournament called Masters. He beat a player from Australia named Alex de Minaur without losing any sets. Also, another player named Jannik Sinner won his 25th match of the year.
Novak Djokovic won a big tennis match in Monte Carlo, setting a new record for reaching the semi-finals 77 times. He beat Alex de Minaur from Australia without losing a set. Another player, Jannik Sinner, also won his match, making it his 25th win of the year. Djokovic, who is 36 years old and the best player in the world, had a tough match but managed to win 7-5, 6-4. This is his first time reaching the semi-finals in Monte Carlo since 2015, when he won the tournament for the second time. Djokovic is the oldest player to make it to the semi-finals in Monte Carlo in modern tennis history. He will play against Casper Ruud from Norway for a chance to compete in the championship match on Sunday.
Djokovic said playing against De Minaur was tough for both of them. De Minaur is really fast and can return a lot of shots that most players can’t. Djokovic had lost to De Minaur before, but this time he won. He mentioned that De Minaur’s passing shots didn’t surprise him, especially in the second set when Djokovic was winning. But both players agreed that their performance wasn’t great.
They made a lot of mistakes, including unforced errors and breaks of serve. Djokovic admitted that the second set was messy, which is normal on clay courts, but there were more mistakes than usual. Despite that, he’s happy to have won.
On Saturday, two tennis players are competing in a big match. Jannik Sinner, who won the Australian Open, is playing against Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has won the Monte Carlo tournament twice before.
Sinner has won 25 matches and lost only one in 2024. He had a tough match against Holger Rune, but he won with a score of 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3.
Tsitsipas, who is ranked 12th, had an easier time defeating Karen Khachanov from Russia with a score of 6-4, 6-2.
Earlier, Novak Djokovic seemed to be winning easily against De Minaur. He won the first set and was leading 2-0 in the second set.
But then, there were five times in a row where the server lost, even though the top player was ahead 3-1 and 4-2, his opponent caught up to 4-4.
Djokovic won the next game, making it 5-4, and managed to break his opponent’s serve again in the 10th game, winning the match in a little over two hours. He’s now just two wins away from his 41st Masters title.
Sinner stayed calm while Rune got upset during the long, two-hour and 40-minute match.
Rune, who will no longer be in the top 10 next week, got a warning from the umpire for acting unsportsmanlike by making a sarcastic gesture to the crowd during the second set.
Rune ‘chaos’
He got booed even more when he sat down and asked for the boss to be called.
The 20-year-old from Denmark stayed calm, saving two chances for his opponent to win and making the match go to a final game.
But Sinner quickly advanced to his fifth semi-final of 2024, getting back at Rune for beating him in the semi-finals in Monte Carlo a year ago.
Sinner said Rune’s behavior could cause some trouble, but he learned from last year and it’s all part of learning.
Tsitsipas, who won the Monte Carlo tournament in 2021 and 2022, only took 81 minutes to win his eighth out of nine matches against Khachanov.
Tsitsipas said, ‘I started strong, with a lot of speed, and I kept getting better.’ He also said, ‘I tried my best to keep the pressure on, and it worked out really well.’
He added, ‘There are lots of good memories here, and coming back brings those memories back to life. It makes me feel alive.’
Ruud, seeded eighth, beat Ugo Humbert, seeded 14th, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 to reach the semi-finals in Monte Carlo for the second time.
Ruud will try to change his record against Djokovic on Saturday. He’s lost to Djokovic five times before, including a loss in the French Open final last year.
