EASTBOURNE, England (AP) - Novak Djokovic converted his fourth match point to beat Donald Young 6-2, 7-6 (9) Thursday and advance to the semifinals at the Eastbourne International, a warmup event for Wimbledon.
The top-seeded Djokovic saved two set points, on Young’s serve at 5-4 and on his own serve in the tiebreaker, and clinched victory with a return winner.
“I’m just glad the way I kind of held my composure, my nerves,” said Djokovic, the world No. 4. “This is the kind of match situations that I was looking forward to having, and I’m glad it happened today and I managed to overcome that.”
Djokovic will next play Daniil Medvedev after the Russian player beat fourth-seeded Steve Johnson 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 on a day when the tournament played catch-up after rain delays early in the week.
Second-seeded Gael Monfils will play seventh-seeded Richard Gasquet in the other semifinal after they both won two matches - in the second round and then the quarterfinals - on Thursday.
In the quarterfinals, Monfils defeated Bernard Tomic 7-6 (4), 6-0 and Gasquet beat third-seeded John Isner 6-3, 6-2.
In the women’s tournament, Angelique Kerber and Simona Halep, the top two seeded players, lost in the quarterfinals.
The top-ranked Kerber was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Johanna Konta, who was joined in the semifinals by fellow British player Heather Watson after her 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 win over Barbora Strycova.
Halep lost 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 to sixth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, who next plays Watson.
Konta plays third-seeded Karolina Pliskova, a 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-4 winner over Svetlana Kuznetsova.
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