David Goffin claimed the biggest victory of his career by beating Novak Djokovic in a thrilling Monte-Carlo Masters quarter-final on Friday.

Goffin had never beaten a top-three opponent in 14 attempts prior to facing the 12-time grand slam champion, but came through an absorbing contest 6-2 3-6 7-5 on Court Rainier III.

Djokovic saved four match points before he was finally sent packing by the classy 10th seed from Belgium, who fought back from 4-2 down in the final set to set up a semi-final against Rafael Nadal or Diego Schwartzman.

World number two Djokovic, playing his first singles tournament since recovering from an elbow injury, follows Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka out of the clay-court tournament in the principality.

Djokovic saved 13 break points, but after making hard work of beating Pablo Carreno Busta and Gilles Simon, he was unable to go any further.

Goffin made a blistering start, cranking up his forehand to break immediately as the tentative second seed struggled to get going and coming up with some stunning winners to wrap up the first set in just over half an hour.

There were concerns when Djokovic hit the deck early in the second set but the Serbian raised his game after getting to his feet to break to love for a 3-1 lead.

Djokovic showed flashes of brilliance and appeared to have more fire in his belly as he levelled the match and took a 2-0 lead in the decider.

Yet Goffin, who had only previously won one set in five matches against his opponent, hung in there and broke back to level at 4-4 before claiming a major scalp when the favourite netted a backhand under immense pressure after fending off four match points.