THE men’s semi-finals have been decided at the Tokyo Olympics, with four tight clashes setting up an intriguing run to the Gold Medal Match. Three seeds remain in the draw with one outlier keeping things interesting with plenty of action still to come.

Top seed and world number one Novak Djokovic is right on the path to gold after completing a zippy 6-2 6-0 sweep over Japanese favourite Kei Nishikori, requiring 72 minutes to claim the win. Djokovic piled on the pressure with an 85 per cent winning rate off his first serve, as Nishikori struggled to retain control.

“Matches are not getting easier, but my level of tennis is getting better and better,” Djokovic said. “I’ve done that many, many times in my career: I know that I’m kind of player that the further the tournament goes, the better I’m feeling on the court. “That’s the case here: my best performance of the tournament tonight against the very good opponent.

“Kei, I know his game very well. “Him playing in Japan, this court where he had lots of success, I knew that he’s going to play very quick and he’s not gonna give me a lot of time so I had to be very alert. “And I feel I had an answer for everything he had.”

Djokovic will take on fourth seed German Alexander Zverev next, with the German having a similarly straightforward time against unseeded Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, moving through to the semis in just 66 minutes with the 6-4 6-1 sweep. Also very impressive on serve, winning 88 per cent of his total service points, Zverev piled on 11 aces and 13 winners throughout the quick victory.

The second semi will see a couple of upset winners, after sixth seed Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta came away with a 6-2 7-6(5) victory over Daniil Medvedev, and unseeded Russian Karen Khachanov outlasted a second set comeback from 14th seed Ugo Humbert to claim a 7-6(4) 4-6 6-3 victory.

“Today was much better in terms of physical conditions,” Khachanov said. “Obviously it’s still humid and still hot, but nothing compared to other days. That was a big plus, I think for everyone.

“I felt well physically, I felt well mentally, I came here to fight for medals and I’m playing good tennis so far. I’m happy that I’m managing to find solutions to the problems as they appear – this is tennis. I’m enjoying so far, and I want to keep going like that.”

“Obviously I’m really happy to first still have another match, another opportunity to keep fighting for the medals,” Khachanov said. “And I’m enjoying playing here at the Olympics for our country. It’s the first Olympics for me and for all the guys – Daniil, Andrey [Rublev] and Aslan [Karatsev]. “We all came here, tried to prepare well.”

Carreno Busta stole the victory from under second seed Medvedev’s grasps, making the most of the Russian’s fatigue to reign supreme during a tight second set tiebreaker.

“This was one of the best matches of my career,” Carreno Busta said. “Daniil is a top player, he is No. 2 in the world and it’s very difficult to play against him. “He plays with very high intensity, he plays at a pace that is very difficult to match, but today I managed it.

“I came here for a medal. “There are four of us left and there are only three medals so I need one more win to get it. “At the moment things are going very well, the plan is going very well. “I won’t relax and will continue with this intensity.”

OLYMPICS MEN’S QUARTER FINALS RESULTS:

[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) defeated Kei Nishikori (JPN) 6-2 6-0
[6] Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP) defeated [2] Daniil Medvedev (RUS) 6-2 7-6
[4] Alexander Zverev (GER) defeated Jeremy Chardy (FRA) 6-4 6-1
Karen Khachanov (ROC) defeated [14] Ugo Humbert (FRA) 7-6 4-6 6-3

Picture credit: Edgar Su/Reuters