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Serbia’s Djokovic has won 24 Grand Slam titles – a men’s record – and claimed a long-awaited Olympic gold earlier this year.<\/p>\n
The 37-year-old will face American world number seven Taylor Fritz in Saturday’s semi-final as he bids for a landmark 100th title.<\/p>\n
Fritz, 26, comfortably beat Belgium’s David Goffin 6-3 6-4 on Friday to book his place in the last four. It extended a run that has seen Fritz progress past the third round for the first time in Shanghai.<\/p>\n
Djokovic, who will now compete in a 78th Masters 1,000 semi-final, said he was motivated by matches against the upcoming generation.<\/p>\n
“It keeps me going, and pushes me to really dig deep, and to show to the world that I’ve still got it in my legs, that I can still go the distance with the young guys,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I’m super glad that I managed to win this very challenging match.”<\/p>\n
Mensik, 19, held his nerve in the opening set against Djokovic.<\/p>\n
Yet Djokovic, a record four-time winner of the tournament, was able to regroup after a scrappy performance in the tie-break and breezed through the second set, before putting the match to bed after two hours and 21 minutes.<\/p>\n
Although US Open runner-up Fritz might provide a tough test for Djokovic, the decorated veteran holds a 9-0 career record from their past meetings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n