Novak Djokovic navigates Geneva win over Tallon Griekspoor to reach semifinals

Novak Djokovic logged victory No. 1101 on Thursday, edging past Tallon Griekspoor, 7-5, 6-1 to reach the Gonet Geneva Open semifinals and put himself two wins away from winning his first ATP title of 2024.

Djokovic was fresh off a milestone victory on Wednesday, celebrating his 37th birthday by winning his 1100th match, and shook off another first-set challenge and saved four set points to ultimately defeat the sixth-seeded Griekspoor in one hour and 17 minutes on Center Court.

"I thought the first set could have gone his way easily because he was a better player for most of the first set," Djokovic said on court. "We could have been having a completely different direction of the match if he converted those set points. I was lucky to find some really good serves and from that moment onwards really played some good, solid tennis."

The world No. 1 was looking for momentum ahead of his 20th main-draw appearance at Roland Garros, having suffered a bizarre head injury at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia that likely led to his third-round exit to Alejandro Tabilo.

Djokovic is yet to drop a set in Geneva, shaking off a 0-3 second-set deficit to book a quarterfinal clash with Griekspoor, who had to do double duty to finish off Denis Shapovalov from a set down earlier in the afternoon.

Though rain interrupted his opening round on Wednesday, Griekspoor looked no worse for wear in the early goings against Djokovic, fending off an early break point to find himself up 0-40 on the top seed’s serve in the all-important ninth game.

Djokovic went on to save a whopping four set points and swiftly turned the tables on the heavy-hitting Dutchman, earning a 0-40 lead of his own and breaking serve on his fifth opportunity.

From there, the match went towards the 24-time Grand Slam champion, who reeled off a total seven games in a row before Griekspoor could get back on the board down 0-4 in the second set.

Djokovic was undaunted and won the final eight points of the match to clinch a semifinal encounter with 23-year-old Czech Tomas Machac. Machac was first into the semifinals after a navigating a rainy quarterfinal against American Alex Michelsen before defeating the teenager, 6-3, 7-6 (2).

Djokovic won his only previous meeting with Machac last February in Dubai, but the match went to a third-set tiebreaker.