Djokovic beats Mensik to move step nearer 100th title

Novak Djokovic won his 99th title with Olympic gold at the Paris Games in August. (Getty Images)

BBC Sport, October 11 — Novak Djokovic's bid to claim a landmark 100th ATP title remained on track as he overcame talented teenager Jakub Mensik in the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters.

The Serbian fourth seed lost the first set on a tie-break to the Czech 19-year-old but battled back for a 6-7 (4-7) 6-1 6-4 victory.

Djokovic, 37, will face American world number seven Taylor Fritz in Saturday's second semi-final.

Fritz, 26, comfortably beat Belgium's David Goffin 6-3 6-4 on Friday to book his place in the last four. It extended a run that has seen Fritz progress past the third round for the first time in Shanghai.

After reaching his 78th Masters 1,000 semi-final, Djokovic was full of praise for his much younger opponent.

"Jakub is someone I've been following in the last three, four years," he said. "We went toe-to-toe until the last moment, until the last game.

"I could see today why he is one of the best servers we have in the game - and he's only 19.

"I think the future is very bright for him. He knows that I am always there for him, whatever he needs."

Mensik held his nerve in the opening set against Djokovic, the 24-time Grand Slam champion.

Djokovic, a record four-time winner of the tournament, was able to regroup after a scrappy performance in the tie-break and breezed through the second set, before putting the match to bed after two hours and 21 minutes.

Although US Open runner-up Fritz might prove a tough test for Djokovic, the decorated veteran holds a 9-0 career record from their past meetings.