Novak Djokovic had to increase his level during his match against Jakub Mensik at the 2024 Shanghai Masters to find himself in the semi-final.
The Serbian player has enjoyed great success at the Shanghai Masters in the past, reaching the semi-final almost every time he has participated. The only exception was his last participation when he reached 'only' the quarter-final at the 2019 edition of the tournament.
This year, he secured his 10th consecutive quarter-final in Shanghai, and with a victory in that quarter-final match, he also secured his ninth semi-final at the penultimate ATP Masters 1000 tournament.
However, getting there wasn't easy. His opponent, Jakub Mensik, who bested the likes of Andrey Rublev and Grigor Dimitrov to get to the quarter-final, played some inspired tennis, especially in the first set of the match.
Both players served exceptionally in the first six games of the set, not losing more than one point on their serve. That changed in the seventh game of the opening set when the Czech youngster started feeling the pressure.
He faced two break points but managed to save both to keep himself in the set. A couple of games later, however, he couldn't save his opponent's third break point of the set, giving the 24-time major winner a chance to serve out the set.
Surprisingly, Mensik didn't let the fourth seed serve out the set, as he broke back to make it 5-5 and later forced the tie-break. He quickly fell behind 0-3 in the tie-break but rallied back to complete an inspired comeback and win the opening-set tie-break 7-4.
The tables turned in the second set. Djokovic came out firing, breaking his opponent's serve already in the second game to establish a 3-0 lead. He then got to deuce on his opponent's next service game but didn't get to break points.
It ultimately wouldn't matter, as Djokovic broke Mensik's serve one more time to lead 5-1 in the second set. A simple service game from the experienced Serbian sent the match into the decider, and he won the second set 6-1.
The 37-year-old didn't lift the pedal off the metal in the third set. He had two break points in the third game of the final set, but Mensik heroically saved both to stay in the match.
However, the Czech player couldn't complete the same miracle two games later, as Djokovic broke to lead 3-2. The Serbian player then made it 4-2, but it was in that game that he started to feel some kind of pain in his left knee (not the knee that he was operated on).
That pain seemed to bother him, as he kept stretching and probably also tried to preserve his health as much as possible. Still, he was able to win the match 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-4 to reach his ninth semi-final at the Shanghai Masters.
In the semi-final match, Djokovic will play against Taylor Fritz, who outplayed David Goffin in the other semi-final on Friday. However, more important than Djokovic's next match will now be his health, as he will certainly want to finish the season healthy.