Djokovic: "It was ugly in the second set".

Novak Djokovic will return to the Monte-Carlo semi-finals for the first time on Saturday since winning the title in 2015. That year, he beat Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals and then Tomas Berdych in the final.

Although he confirmed that he hadn't played great tennis on Friday against Alex De Minaur (7-5, 6-4), the world No.1 was delighted to finally be back in the last four on the courts of the Monte-Carlo Country Club, where he is a year-round member.

Novak Djokovic: "It was complicated. De Minaur is one of the fastest players on the ATP Tour. He manages to return balls that 90% of other players don't normally return. He surprised me with several passing shots, particularly in the 2nd set when I was a break ahead.

But he told me at the net that it was ugly. In the second I think it was. We didn't play at a high level, we made a lot of unforced errors. There were a lot of consecutive breaks/debreaks too. In a way, you expect that on clay, but maybe not as much. But, once again, a win is a win and I'm happy to have come through.

I'm delighted to be back in the semi-finals. It's been a long time coming. And I love this tournament. I know this club very well. I've been training here for so many years. For the last 7-8 years, it's been a bit difficult to win 2 or 3 matches in a row here. But here we are, another semi-final, and I'm looking forward to it."