Djokovic delighted to overcome Young test as French duo shine at Eastbourne
After winning a second set tie-break to reach the last four at Eastbourne, Novak Djokovic said he was happy to have held his composure.
Novak Djokovic took confidence from his victory over Donald Young at the Aegon International, after being pushed by the American in the second set of their quarter-final.
The top seed at Eastbourne this week, Djokovic moved into the last four with a 6-2 7-6 (11-9) triumph on Thursday.
After charging into an early lead, the 12-time grand slam champion was forced to save two set points before eventually getting the better of Young.
"I enjoyed it, especially in the second set," said Djokovic. "He [Young] served for the set, had a set point and then had set point in the tie-break. Obviously, it could have gone easily his way.
"But it hasn't, and I'm just glad the way I kind of held my composure, my nerves. These are the kind of match situations that I was looking forward to having, and I'm glad it happened and I managed to overcome that."
Next up for Djokovic is a clash with Russia's Daniil Medvedev, one of several players forced to play twice on Thursday following rain delays earlier in the week.
The unseeded Medvedev completed a second-round win over Robin Haase before beating Steve Johnson in three sets.
Friday's other semi-final will see Gael Monfils, who overcame Cameron Norrie and Bernard Tomic to reach the last four, face fellow Frenchman Richard Gasquet. The latter triumphed against two big servers on Thursday in the form of Kevin Anderson and John Isner.
At the Antalya Open in Turkey, Yuichi Sugita followed up his win over David Ferrer by thumping Daniel Altmaier 6-3 6-0 to reach the semi-finals.
However, Radu Albot could not build on his victory over second seed Paolo Lorenzi. The Romanian lost in straight sets to another Italian, Andreas Seppi.
Lorenzi will now face Adrian Mannarino - the conqueror of third seed Fernando Verdasco - in the last four, while Marcos Baghdatis stands between Sugita and a place in the final.