London: Novak Djokovic joined the 800-win club as the former world number one moved into the Queen’s Club semi-finals with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Adrian Mannarino yesterday.
Djokovic took just 78 minutes to crush Mannarino, in the process becoming the 10th player in the Open era to reach 800 match wins.
The 31-year-old will play France’s Jeremy Chardy or American youngster Frances Tiafoe in the last four as he bids for his second Queen’s final appearance.
If Djokovic wins the semi-final and goes on to take the Queen’s title for the first time, he will pass Stefan Edberg into ninth place on the all-time wins list.
Djokovic had lost just eight games in his first two Queen’s matches, demolishing Grigor Dimitrov in the second round to claim his first win over a top 10 player since May 2017.
A wobbly start against Mannarino could have squandered the momentum from those wins and Djokovic shrieked in frustration when a wayward forehand gifted the world number 26 a break in the third game of the first set.
But Djokovic found his rhythm and converted his sixth break point to level at 4-4.
From 4-2 down, Djokovic had wrestled the initiative from Mannarino and another break secured the first set.
The second set was a procession as Djokovic overwhelmed Mannarino from the baseline with a series of searing winners.
Australia’s Nick Kyrgios blazed past Feliciano Lopez to reach the semi-finals.
The 23-year-old was in dazzling form as he claimed a 7-6(5) 7-6(3) victory against the defending champion to set up a clash with top seed Marin Cilic who breezed past Sam Querrey 7-6(3) 6-2.