Novak Djokovic takes down Rafa Nadal in historic tennis scenes against Alex de Minaur

Novak Djokovic has created more tennis history after beating Australia's Alex de Minaur in the quarter-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters. Djokovic's draining 7-5 6-4 win booked the Serb's place in a 77th Masters 1000 semi-final, breaking the record he shared with Rafa Nadal.

The 36-year-old Djokovic is also now the oldest semi-finalist in the history of the Monte Carlo clay tournament and he remains on track to clinch a first title there since 2015. Djokovic will meet Casper Ruud in the last-four in what is a rematch of last year's French Open final, with the Norwegian booking his spot after beating France's Ugo Humbert 6-3 4-6 6-1.

Djokovic wasn't at his sharpest against de Minaur, who missed a rare opportunity to inflict successive defeats on the Serb, having beaten him at the United Cup in January. But the Aussie wasn't able to inflict a second defeat on the 24-time major winner this year as he was gradually worn down by the Seb over two gruelling sets.

De Minaur ended Djokovic's 43-match win streak in Australia at the United Cup, but couldn't quite deliver his 'A' game again in Monte Carlo as the Serb turned the screws. Djokovic looked a little ring-rusty and weary in a physically demanding slog but his big-match nous still proved too much.

The Aussie went into the clash as the first man from his nation to make the quarter-finals at Monte Carlo since Mark Philippoussis 25 years ago. He was also looking to become the first man since Dominic Thiem five years ago to beat Djokovic twice in one year. And he had Djokovic on the ropes early, leaving the Serb bending over wearily with his hands on knees after winning a draining 34-stroke rally.

Alex de Minaur loses 'ugly' match against Novak Djokovic

But de Minaur let himself down with lapses of concentration at the end of the first set and regularly in the second. The rollercoaster two-hour battle featured no less than seven breaks of serve in the second stanza, with de Minaur admitting to Djokovic at the net afterwards that it was an "ugly" affair.

"In the second set I think it was," agreed Djokovic. "We didn't really play at a high level, wemade a lot of unforced errors, there were a lot of consecutive breaks of serve - but a win is a win and I'm glad to go through. It was tough for both off us. Alex is one of the quickest players on tour who gets a lot of balls back that normally 99 per cent of players on tour don't, and he surprised me with some passing shots, particularly in the second set."

Jannik Sinner to play Stefanos Tsitsipas in semi-finals

In other men's action in Monte Carlo, Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner overcame his first test of the week against Holger Rune to make the last-four for the second straight year. That sets up a mouth-watering battle with two-time champion Stefanos Tsitsipas, who eased into the last-four by defeating Karen Khachanov 6-4 6-2.

"I was very effective from the start, I had a lot of pace and gained momentum," Tsitsipas said after the match. "I tried to do my part and press and it worked out really well." Meanwhile, Sinner's 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 victory came after Rune saved two match points en route to winning the second-set tiebreaker.

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Sinner's thrilling triumph in 2 hours and 40 minutes saw the Italian clinch an astonishing 25th win in 26 matches this year. It came after a number ill-tempered incidents from Rune, who exchanged angry gestures with the crowd when they booed him and copped a second warning by the umpire after demanding to speak with the supervisor.

"It is never easy to play Holger so I am happy to have won, but above all to be able to raise my level of game a little," said Sinner. This match was a very physical one, lots of long rallies."

with agencies