Tennis: Novak Djokovic battles past Zizou Bergs into Shanghai Masters semi-final, qualifier Valentin Vacherot awaits

Novak Djokovic pushed himself to his limits and was rewarded with a spot in the semi-finals of the 2025 Shanghai Masters.

The Olympic tennis champion battled through one hour, 52 minutes to defeat Zizou Bergs 6-3, 7-5 in the quarter-finals in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China, on Thursday (9 October).

Djokovic is into a record 80th ATP Masters 1000 semi-final, as well as becoming the oldest semi-finalist at 38 years and 140 days old. He had already broken the record for the most veteran quarter-finalist and is now closing in on his second title of the 2025 season, following the Geneva Open ATP 250 in May.

Fourth seed Djokovic will face Valentin Vacherot, the Monégasque qualifier who has been the story of Shanghai this week. He will debut in the top 100 of the ATP rankings after rallying from behind to beat World No. 11 Holger Rune 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-4.

Vacherot had a unique supporter in the stands: his cousin and fellow tennis player Arthur Rinderknech, who contests his own quarter-final tie at the Masters 1000 tournament against Felix Auger-Aliassime on Friday (10 October).

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Djokovic, 38, has had to battle hard all week, feeling the effects of the schedule and conditions all tournament long with bouts of vomiting and cramps.

His final eight opponent was Bergs, heading for a new career high of World No. 38, in their maiden meeting on the ATP Tour with the Belgian aiming for his maiden ATP Masters 1000 semi-final.

In stifling conditions once again in Shanghai, Djokovic started to crouch in agony throughout the seventh game, which surpassed nine minutes until the 24-time Grand Slam champion held out on his serve.

After a changeover and a vital respite for Djokovic, Bergs recovered from three double faults and 0-40 to hold serve, before the Serbian saw out the set in 48 minutes. An almighty fight in the first was just the start as his Belgian opponent battled to stay in it.

This time nothing separated the men until the ninth game, where Olympic gold medallist Djokovic broke Bergs only to be broken right back. The fourth seed knew that he had to capitalise, sealing a double break and converting on his third match point for a gutsy victory in Shanghai.

Djokovic is one of just four seeds remaining in the Shanghai Masters, and the other three are all on the other side of the draw. This means that the world No. 5 could only face one of Daniil Medvedev, Alex de Minaur and Auger Aliassime in the final, which takes place on Sunday (12 October).

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