SHANGHAI: Fourth seed Novak Djokovic battled past a spirited Zizou Bergs 6-3 7-5 on Thursday to reach the Shanghai Masters semi-finals for a 10th time, setting up a clash with surprise package and world No. 204 Valentin Vacherot.
In challenging conditions, Djokovic was made to work harder than the scoreline suggests by his Belgian opponent, who actually registered more winners than the four-times champion but was undone by unforced errors.
“First encounter with Bergs, a great guy. Obviously a lot of firepower in his game. He played a good game,” Djokovic said.
“Again, I was a little bit too passive. Just very challenging conditions these days for all the players. Just trying to stay alive on the court and glad to overcome this hurdle.”
In the opening set, Bergs showed remarkable resilience by saving five set points to frustrate Djokovic, before the Serbian finally closed it out with an unreturned serve.
The second set proved even more gruelling, with both players serving well but treating the crowd to breathtaking rallies that left Djokovic hunched over his racquet on several occasions. Vacherot shines
Vacherot pulled off a huge upset, stunning 10th seed Holger Rune 2-6 7-6(4) 6-4 to become the second-lowest ranked player ever to reach an ATP Masters semi-final. The Monegasque qualifier’s remarkable run will see him crack the top 100 next week after spending half of last year sidelined with injury, but even playing in Shanghai was a question mark when he arrived.
Sabalenka keeps winning
wuhan: US Open champion Aryna Sabalenka’s winning streak at the Wuhan Open rolled on to 19 matches when she beat Liudmila Samsonova 6-3 6-2 Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000-level tournament.
Top-ranked Sabalenka’s streak includes winning titles at Wuhan in 2018, 2019 and 2024.
Earlier, Jessica Pegula recovered from an early service break in the third set to beat Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-5 3-6 6-3. agencies