Djokovic Surpasses Nadal, Into Record-Breaking 77th Masters 1000 Semifinal At Monte-Carlo

Novak Djokovic, Monte Carlo
Novak Djokovic (photo: chryslene Basse Def)

MONTE-CARLO/WASHINGTON, April 12, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

For only the third time in the 55th edition of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in the Open Era, all eight quarterfinalists arrived on court Friday at the Monte-Carlo Country Club seeded, highlighted by No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia and No. 2 seed Jannik Sinner of Italy. Both of the favorites entered the last eight stage without losing a set. Although Sinner was pushed to the distance while Djokovic completed his latest victory in straight-set fashion, both won and advanced to the weekend semifinals.

While the World No. 1 Djokovic did not play his best tennis of the week, he found a way to win his match against World No. 11 Alex de Minaur of Australia, 7-5, 6-4, in two hours and four minutes to reach his first Monte-Carlo semifinal in nine years and achieve a record-breaking 77th ATP Masters 1000 semifinal, breaking the record previously set by Rafael Nadal.

The top-seeded Djokovic avenged his January United Cup loss to de Minaur and has now beaten him twice in three career meetings.

Djokovic overcame 26 unforced errors and three breaks off his serve by hitting 13 winners. He broke his opponent’s service five times in 11 tries and benefited from the 11th seed de Minaur’s 28 unforced errors.

Afterward, Djokovic said: “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’t. He did not surprise me with several passing shots. Particularly in the second set when I was up a break.

“But he said at the net it was ugly. The second set I think it was. We didn’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.”

On Saturday, Djokovic will face World No. 10 and eighth seed Casper Ruud of Norway, who was pushed to three sets by World No. 15 and 14th seed Ugo Humbert of France before prevailing, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, in two hours and five minutes.

“I am very happy to be back in the semis. It has been a while,” said Djokovic, who won Monte-Carlo titles in 2013 and 2015. “I love this tournament. I love this club as well. I have been training at this club for many years. The past seven, eight years has been tough for me to win seven or eight matches consecutively, but here we are, another semis.”

Meanwhile, Sinner, who entered play Friday 13-2 against fellow Top 10 players since September – only losing to No. 1 Djokovic at last year’s Nitto ATP Finals and to No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain at last month’s ATP Masters 1000 in Indian Wells – faced World No. 7 Holger Rune of Denmark, who defeated the Italian in last year’s semifinal round. Sinner pulled out a contentious 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3 victory.

The 22-year-old from the South Tyrol aimed to reach the semifinals of the first three ATP Masters 1000 events of the season for the second year in a row, after being a semifinalist at Indian Wells and winning the Miami Open. He beat Rune in two hours and 40 minutes, thanks to hitting 28 winners and outpointing his opponent 103-82. The loss will bump Rune out of the Top 10 next week.

“It took a lot [to win this match],” Sinner said during his on-court interview. “Playing against him is never easy, especially on this kind of occasion, so I’m very happy I won today but mostly about the level I gave. I raised it today a little bit. It was more physical, there were more rallies today. My general feelings were better, so I’m very excited about tomorrow’s match.”

Next, Sinner will face two-time Monte-Carlo champion and World No. 12 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, who played in his fourth consecutive Monte-Carlo quarterfinal and defeated World No. 17 and 15th seed Karen Khachanov for the eighth time, 6-4, 6-2, in 82 minutes.

“I would lie if I said it doesn’t bring good memories stepping out on this court,” said the 12th seed Tsitsipas, following up on the success of his third-round win against World No. 5 Alexander Zverev of Germany. “It’s something that I attribute some of my performances here over time to.

“I come back here, and I sort of relive those memories of the past. It gives good feelings to me when I’m able to play in front of crowds like this and be able to try and strive for excellence with my game.”

By the numbers

Since the series began in 1990, Novak Djokovic has reached 93 career ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinals, second-most behind Rafael Nadal’s 99.

“Quotable …”

“It was tough. It was back-and-forth, back-and-forth. I started great and I was up 6-3, 2-0 after 50 minutes. I was playing really good tennis and then kind of stumbled a bit. I think I lost maybe 10 points in a row at one point there, so I had to try and stop the bleeding. I wasn’t able to in the second set, but third set I was a bit fortunate I got the break early and then saved a few break points, God knows how, but luckily they landed inside the lines.”

—No. 8 seed Casper Ruud, during his on-court interview, following his quarterfinal win over No. 14 seed Ugo Humbert.

 

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